Parliament accepts amendments to Section 8 of Maldivian Constitution

The amendments suggested to the Constitutional on behalf of the Maldivian government by North Hithadhoo MP Mohamed Aslam have been accepted into the Parliament and forwarded to the General Purpose Committee for evaluation.

 The bill was accepted into the Parliament with the unanimous consensus of 82 lawmakers present during the parliamentary sitting this Monday afternoon.

Aslam’s bill calls for amendments to Section 8 of the Constitution; establishing that mayors and deputy mayors of city councils, and presidents and vice presidents of island councils need to be elected directly through a secret ballot taken among constituents; and establishing that atoll councils must be composed of island council presidents from each atoll in order to improve representation of all local islands within atoll councils; and extending the term of councilors from three years to five years.

The bill was presented to the Parliament on October 14, and follows an earlier bill to amend the Decentralization Act – both of which the government reports is designed to improve the management of administrative divisions of the government in accordance with a decentralized system of governance, and empower local councils.