Solih: MVR 60M isn't costly for an election held once every five years

Spending MVR 60 million or even MVR 100 million on an election that comes once every five years is not a costly figure, said former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Monday, accusing the incumbent administration of rushing the referendum on combining two major elections without giving enough time to raise public awareness.

The Maldives is set to hold a referendum on April 1 – the same day as the local council election – on combining the presidential election and the parliamentary election.

The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – which labels the plan as an attempt by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s administration to consolidate power - has filed a court case seeking to block the referendum.

At a rally at the MDP’s center in Male’ on Monday night, Solih accused the incumbent administration of rushing the referendum and questioned its true intentions.

“This needs debate. This requires consultation with experts in the field. Why do they need to amend a clause of an 18-year-old Constitution? This needs to be looked into. Only after this should it be brought before the people,” he said.

Solih slammed the lack of public awareness before holding such a crucial referendum.

He said that the administration has been advocating for combining the two elections by promoting it as something that will save MVR 60 million.

“MVR 60 million or even MVR 100 million – this is not a big cost to hold an election once every five years. If this is about MVR 60 million, this comes down to MVR 12 million per year and MVR 1 million per month,” he said.

Solih does not believe saving MVR 60 million alone justifies combining the two elections.

He urged everyone to consider the shock it will cause to the entire electoral system.

This is why the MDP will be voting ‘no’ in the referendum, he said.

Solih also highlighted on elections trends in the Maldives since the current Constitution took effect in 2008. He said that former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s party won 69 percent of seats in the parliamentary elections held five months after he got elected to office in 2013, while the MDP won 75 percent of seats after coming to power in 2018, and the current ruling party People’s National Congress (PNC) won 78 percent of seats after coming to power in 2023.

He said that this trend shows the influence and control the executive branch wields on the Parliament with having the two elections held so close together.

Having the two elections held concurrently will make this worse, he warned.

Solih said that a newly-elected president fresh from his election victory and armed with the powers of his office, funding and jobs will take full control of the Parliament.

This will result in loss of the ability of the Parliament to hold the government accountable, he warned.