Appeal made to amend special provisions act on council elections

Elections Commission (EC) member Ismail Habeeb as called on the authorities to amend Article 7 of the Special Provisions Act on Local Council Elections – passed to postpone the Local Council Elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Article 7 of the Act states that the Local Council Elections must be held once the state of public health emergency declared over the pandemic is lifted, and after the relevant state institution establishes that holding the election will not pose a threat to public health.

However, EC’s chairman Ahmed Shareef told Sun last week that the commission held a meeting with the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to discuss the state of public health emergency will be lifted the week before after making administrative preparations to hold the election on March 6, but was told by the agency that the state of public health emergency cannot be lifted by then.

HPA stated that lifting the state of public health emergency will make it difficult to control the spread of the disease within Maldives.

“Therefore, I ask that for Article 7 of Law number 3/2020 to be amended as soon as possible, in order for the Elections Commission to execute the authority to hold elections vested under Article 170 of the Constitution,” wrote Habeeb, in a tweet in which he tagged the Parliament, EC, President’s Office, and Speaker Mohamed Nasheed.

The Local Council Elections was originally scheduled to be held in April this year, but was postponed after passing the Special Provisions Act on Local Council Elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

EC later attempted to make arrangements to hold the elections in March 6 next year.

Shareef has stated that given the provisions on the Special Provisions Act on Local Council Elections, EC is unable to hold the elections until the state of public health emergency is lifted.

He said that HPA is unable to guarantee the state of public health emergency will be lifted by March.

The Special Provisions Act on Local Council Elections also states that the elections must be held within one year after the Act takes effect. Therefore, the elections need to be held in May at the latest.

More than 2,300 independent candidates and candidates from political parties applied to run in the Local Council Elections, some of whom have since withdrawn their names.