Amendment Bill to disqualify terrorism convicts from running in elections, retracted

The Amendment Bill to the General Elections Act, proposing to disqualify individuals who have been convicted of terrorism from running in elections, has been retracted.

The withdrawal followed the debate on the bill during the first half of today’s parliament sitting.

During the debate, many MPs in fact spoke in favour of the amendment.

The bill was submitted by pro-government MP Ahmed Amir, and proposed to void four articles of the Decentralisation Act which prescribe the qualifications of individuals running in Atoll Council Elections, Island Council Elections, City Council Elections.

The qualifications for running in elections according to the Amendment Bill were:

- The individual should not have been convicted of terrorism

- The individual should not have committed any offence for which penalties are specified

- The individual should not have been convicted of fraud involving a sum exceeding MVR 10,000

- The individual should not have been convicted of bribery

- If convicted of drug use, a period of ten years should have passed since the individual completed his sentence

- The individual should be Maldivian and Muslim

- The individual should be above 18 years of age and of sound mind

- The individual should have been a Maldivian citizen for a minimum of five years

- If convicted of a debt, the individual should be repaying the debt as required by the court verdict.