EC opens complaints for new constituencies added to parliament

Elections Commission (EC) has begun accepting complaints for new constituencies which will be added to the parliament in the parliamentary election scheduled for next year.

Six new constituencies will be added in this regard. They are;

• Hithaadhoo constituency comprising of Hithaadhoo, Maalhos and Dharavandhoo
• Huraa constituency comprising of Huraa, Himmafushi and Gulhi
• Kolamaafushi constituency comprising of Kolamaafushi and Dhevvadhoo
• North Feydhoo constituency comprising of Feydhoo and Maradhoo Feydhoo
• Central Hulhumale’ constituency
• North Hulhumale’ constituency

As per the provisional report published by EC, the constituencies represented in the parliament will be increased to 93 in the upcoming parliamentary election. The report also states some changes will be made to the names of existing constituencies.

Complaints can be submitted to the report starting Thursday, till October 19^th.

EC’s Vice Chairperson Ismail Habeeb previously told Sun that the number of MPs is being increased in light of the changes that need to be brought to administrative divisions over the population that has been registered this time around.

Article 71 of the Maldivian constitution – where the residents registered to an administrative division exceed five thousand residents, one additional MP must be allocated for each group of five thousand residents in excess of the first five thousand.

At present, there are 87 MPs in the parliament, with an addition of two MPs during the parliamentary election held in 2019. With the six new constituencies – the number of MPs in the parliament will be raised to 93.