Chair of the MDP Parliamentary Group, Moosa Maniku has sent a letter to Speaker of the Parliament, Abdulla Shahid, voicing concern on the Local Council Elections bill adopted by the Parliament last week.
The bill also says that the voting only could take place in the islands they are registered, meaning that a sizeable population of the Maldivians living in the islands other than they are registered, would not be able to vote in the elections. Some MPs also believed that this was an unnecessary limitation applied to the rights bestowed by the Constitution.
The letter says that the Constitution guarantees that all Maldivians above the age of 18 is eligible for voting and that voting should be casted by secret ballots. However, the letter stated that MDP believes that the new bill contravenes the relevant articles of the Constitution.
The letter continued to state that most of the employed Maldivians work at resorts and industrial islands and a vast majority of Maldivians live in other islands than the one they are registered. “As those Maldivians would lose their right to vote in the upcoming local elections, MDP would like to bring this to the attention of the Parliament” the letter concluded.
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