Nasheed backs one-round preferential voting; asks for support from Democrats and MDP

Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed announced his support for a one-round preferential voting system in the Maldives on Sunday, expressing hope for support from both the Democrats and the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) for such switch.

The Maldives currently uses the single member plurality system for parliamentary and council elections, and the two-round or runoff system for presidential elections.

The president is elected by an absolute majority vote. If no candidate has a majority of the votes after the first round, then a runoff election takes place between the two candidates with the most votes in the first round.

No presidential candidate has won outright since the introduction of the multi-party system.

During his Republic Day address in November last year, President Muizzu announced plans to hold referendums on several proposed changes to the electoral process, including abolishing the current two-round system in presidential elections, in favor of a preferential system.

Last week, President Muizzu met with parliamentarians from the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), who hold a supermajority at the Parliament. He told them that the administration was working on holding a referendum, and asked for support to make necessary constitutional changes to switch to a two-round voting system.

The plan has received mixed reaction.

In a post on X on Sunday afternoon, Nasheed, who currently lives overseas, said he supports a one-round voting system, as long as it is a preferential vote.

“I, too, believe a mechanism that allows the creation of an administration through one-round of voting is best, as long as it is a preferential vote,” he said.

Preferential vote aai eku nama eh burun vote laa ninmaa sarukaareh ufadhdhaa usoolakee rangalhu usooleh kamah alhugandu ves dheken.

— Mohamed Nasheed (@MohamedNasheed) April 20, 2025

A short while later, he shared a message on a WhatsApp group with Democrats’ supporters, asking for support not just from his own party, but also the MDP.

“I hope members and supporters of the MDP and Democrats will back a one-round preferential voting system for the presidential election,” he wrote.

In addition to a referendum on adopting a preferential voting system, President Muizzu has also announced plans to hold referendums on reverting the start of presidential terms back to November 11, and holding presidential and parliamentary elections conjointly.

A source who attended last week’s meeting told Sun that the administration is working on holding the referendum on preferential voting before the end of this year.

The administration has not made any official comment regarding the meeting, which took place on Wednesday at the presidential residence, Muliaage. However, several PNC activists have begun campaigning for a preferential voting system over social media platforms.