The Supreme Court has ruled that there is no legal standing to halt the public referendum to hold the Presidential Election and Parliamentary Election concurrently.
This comes after lawyers Ibrahim Shiyam and Aik Ahmed Easa filed a case at the country's top court contesting the legality of the decree issued by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu to hold the public referendum.
The Supreme Court issued its ruling on the case today and stated that the question in the referendum on merging the two elections was not unconstitutional.
The bench unanimously ruled that there was no legal basis to determine that the vote should not be taken.
The lawyers who submitted the case argued that the Constitution states that the term of a sitting parliament can only be altered by a public referendum and that the current referendum did not reflect the change.
However, the prosecution argued that the Constitution does not specify how the referendum question should be formulated. The power to phrase the question is given by law to the President, and the procedures for doing so are clearly defined in the Consultation Act.
The Public Referendum to hold the two major elections on one day would be held next Saturday along with the Local Council Election and the Women's Development Committee Election.
