MDP congress to consider pushing voting based on place of residency instead of permanent address in council elections

The ‘Bodu Badhalu’ movement has submitted a resolution for the consideration of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s upcoming congress, seeking to formulate policies to push for people to be allowed to vote in the local council elections based on their place of residency, instead of their permanent address.

The ‘Bodu Badhalu’ policy paper, submitted by MDP’s former chairperson Fayyaz Ismail and sponsored by MDP’s membership committee co-chair Ilyas Labeeb, called for research into allowing people to vote for representatives of their place of residency instead of their permanent address, and to engage in efforts to make the change.

Allowing people to elect the members of the council that they obtain services from will ensure people benefit from the system of decentralization.

The resolution also proposes pushing to introduce recall votes for all elected officials.

It also proposes pushing to change the country’s Parliament from a unicameral legislature to a bicameral one, with the upper house composed of representatives from different fields.

The MDP is set to kick off its congress on October 1.