General Elections Act amendment seeks to disqualify terrorism convicts from running in elections

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

The bill was submitted by pro-government MP Ahmed Amir.

The bill seeks 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 are:

- 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.

The First Reading of the bill has been presented to the parliament, and the debate will begin next week.