Chairperson of the main opposition party, MDP Fayyaz Ismail, says electoral reform should not be an excuse to limit the voices of voters.
This comes amid hints from President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and his administration that they would work to abolish the second round of voting in the Presidential elections and hold Parliamentary elections with the vote to elect the President.
In a post on 'X', Fayyaz said that in a small nation like the Maldives, where votes are tallied in a day, the President-elect should be sworn in with a clear mandate from the majority of the voting population.
He said that the government’s justification of such a policy through ‘cutting costs’ is insincere when wasteful political expenditure is at an all-time high.
The MDP Chairperson also touched on holding the two major elections, Presidential and Parliamentary, in tandem.
However, he said that there is merit in merging the presidential and local council elections as aligning the visions of local and central development will allow for better execution of developmental agendas.
The comments from Fayyaz came after former President Mohamed Nasheed said on X that he could get on board with a preferential vote that eliminates the second round of Presidential voting as per the guidelines formed by the government.
