Elections Commission opens application for Kalaidhoo Council

The Elections Commission has opened application for Kalaidhoo Council in the Local Council Election scheduled for 18 January 2013.

This announcement follows the declaration by President Abdulla Yameen of Laamu Kalaidhoo a separate island, and the creation of a Kalaidhoo Council yesterday.

The Elections Commission said that the deadline for submitting applications is 3 p.m. on 18 December 2013.

Five councillors will be elected to Kalaidhoo Council under the Decentralisation Act. Kalaidhoo has a population of 1,200.

The Decentralisation Act states that islands with populations of less than 3,000 should have five councillors, and islands with more than 3,000 people should have seven councillors.

The President declared Kalaidhoo a separate island following a revision, under the Decentralisation Act, of the resolution on determining the inhabited islands of the Maldives, which was published on the Government Gazette on 14 October 2010.