Press release on the Preliminary Findings of the Pre-Election Legal Review 

Read the press statement in English/Dhivehi

29 March 2026: Since the first multi-party presidential election in 2008, Transparency Maldives (TM) has observed all national elections in its efforts to strengthen the electoral system and increase people’s confidence in elections. As part of these efforts, TM has published a Pre-Election Legal Review, reviewing the electoral environment ahead of the upcoming elections on April 4, and providing recommendations to mitigate challenges for holding free, fair, and credible elections. 

On 4 April 2026, the Republic of Maldives will conduct three concurrent electoral events: Local Council Elections, Women’s Development Committee Elections, and a Constitutional Referendum on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. A total of 294,937 registered voters across 226 constituencies will decide who governs their islands for the next five years, and whether a constitutional amendment that permanently reshapes the structure of national elections and the term of the current parliament should be ratified. 

The three votes are governed by separate legal frameworks, carry different constitutional significance, and impose different obligations on the Elections Commission, candidates, and voters. However, all are administered by a single authority on a single day, via 3 ballot papers issued at the same polling station. The Local Council and WDC Elections are primarily governed by the Decentralisation Act (Law no. 7/2010 with amendments including 17^th amendment Law no 22/2025), the Local Council Elections Act (Law no. 10/2010 with amendments), and LCE & WDC Election 2026 Regulation (Regulation R-118/2025), and are administered together using a common voter registry, the same polling stations, and the same operational infrastructure. The Constitutional Referendum is governed by an entirely separate legal framework: the Public Referendum Act (Law no 15/2025), the Referendum Regulation (Regulation No R-98/2020), and Presidential Decree No 2/2026 with the General Elections Law (Law No 11/2008 with amendments) applicable as a backstop across all elections. 

Key Structural Changes 

This election is one of the most complex elections the country has seen since the introduction of multi-party democracy, accompanied by significant structural changes, including: 

1. Local Council Elections: The 17th Amendment to the Decentralisation Act abolishes elected atoll councils effective May 27, 2026. The intermediate tier of elected local governance ceases to exist. Supervisory responsibility over island councils passes to the Local Government Authority, which is an appointed, not elected, body. The council composition was also amended. Now, islands with fewer than 2,000 registered residents elect 3-member councils: islands with 2,000 or more elect 5-member councils. City council sizes are determined by population. Moreover, online candidacy applications were introduced for the first time. 

2. Women’s Development Committee Elections: With the 17^th Amendment to the Decentralisation Act, for the first time, WDC presidents are directly elected by secret ballot of all island residents, whereas previously they were elected by committee members. The president will also serve in a full-time, paid capacity. 

3. Constitutional Referendum: This is the first nationwide referendum in the Maldives since 2007, and the first ever nationwide referendum conducted under a statutory referendum framework. The referendum asks voters to approve or reject the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution in a single Yes/No vote. The amendment combines two distinct constitutional changes: concurrent Presidential and People’s Majlis elections, and a change to the Majlis term. 

Six Pre-Election Shortcomings 

Across this electoral landscape, this desk review has flagged six alarming shortcomings, each confirmed through primary sources, that affect the conditions under which voters will cast their ballots on April 4, 2026.  

1. The Referendum Information Deficit 

For the Constitutional Referendum, Presidential Decree No 2/2026 included an information paper setting out five arguments in favour of the Eighth Amendment. While the Elections Commission met the legal deadline under the Public Referendum Act to publish the information paper, the ECM also noted that it faced challenges in creating public awareness adequately beyond what is prescribed in the law. No arguments against the amendment appear anywhere in the official voter information package because the presidential decree pathway in the law requires only pro arguments to be included. Consequently, voters faced a constitutionally significant question with only the minimum information mandated by law, rather than a balanced presentation of both supporting and opposing views. 

2. Ballot Secrecy at Risk 

The Elections Commission formally identified 6,176 voters whose ballot secrecy was at risk because too few voters were registered at their assigned ballot boxes. Affected voters were given a window of less than 48 hours to re-register at a different box. For many voters, particularly in resorts, industrial islands, prisons, and remote islands with limited internet access, this did not provide a meaningful opportunity to exercise their rights. As a result, a large number of identified voters are expected to cast their ballots on April 4 without an effective remedy to protect the constitutional guarantee of a secret ballot. 

3. No Campaign Finance Accountability for Local Elections 

Since the enactment of the Local Council Elections Act, Section 20 (b) expressly excludes key campaign finance areas of the General Elections Law from applying to Local Council and WDC elections. As a result, no local council or WDC candidate in the elections is required to have an agent, maintain a campaign account, or disclose any financial information to any authority. Without these requirements, there is no practical and transparent mechanism to monitor campaign funding or spending, detect violations, or ensure accountability.  

4. No campaign finance framework for the referendum 

The Public Referendum Act contains no campaign finance provisions: no spending limits, no disclosure obligations, no prohibition on foreign or anonymous donations for any party or individual campaigning on the referendum question. As a result, financial influence on the April 4, referendum can occur without transparency or accountability. 

5. A ballot question that lacks clarity 

The mandatory referendum under Article 262(b) of the Constitution exists to ensure that the people make an informed choice/decision with regards to a specific constitutional change in this case, the change to the Majlis term under Article 79(a). The question describes that change as ‘stipulating the method of counting the term’; procedural language that does not tell voters that the current parliament’s term will end approximately five months earlier than its scheduled expiry in May 2029. The question is the only official, constitutionally required mechanism through which voters exercise their consent and it does not equip them to exercise that consent in an informed way.  

6. Overseas voters excluded from the Constitutional Referendum.   

The ECM set a 2,000-voter threshold per country for overseas ballot boxes in the 2026 LCE and WDC elections, a 1,233% increase from the last LCE and WDC election. The referendum was announced on 16 February 2026, followed by a related ECM announcement on 17 February, and the re-registration window from 18 – 22 February without revising the 2000-voter threshold. Had the threshold been revised, opportunity for registration allowed in other countries and adequate time given for re-registration, this would have essentially provided for overseas voters to participate in the first nationwide constitutional referendum since 2007. 

Additional Structural Legal Concerns 

The review also identifies several structural legal gaps in the electoral framework. The referendum campaign period met the statutory minimum by only one day but falls short of the standards set in the ‘Venice Commission’s Revised Code of Good Practice on Referendums’ for genuinely informed participation. The 14-day voter registry publication period is also incompatible with the 25-day complaints process.  Moreover, the Public Referendum Act allows constitutional amendments to pass with more than 50% of valid votes cast without a turnout threshold, meaning constitutional amendments can be ratified without genuine majority popular backing if turnout is low. 

Additional concerns arise from Presidential Decree No. 36/2025, issued after the ECM’s Dhaaira Report, which abolished H.Dh Hirimaradhoo constituency, without legislative process or an electoral challenge mechanism. The decree reassigned 588 voters to H.Dh Hanimaadhoo and removed its council from the ballot. This is an inconsistent application compared to M. Raiymandhoo which remains as its own constituency despite similar relocation efforts.  

Broader legal concerns include restrictions on the free mandate of elected council members under the Anti-Defection Law and Decentralisation Act, the absence of accessibility standards for polling stations and voting materials affecting an estimated 4.5% of voters, and the lack of enforcement mechanisms for the 33% gender reservation. 

Lastly, the overseas voting framework gives the ECM broad discretion, with no statutory minimum, no duty to provide reasons, and no requirement to review thresholds when the ballot changes. 

Key Recommendations 

Collectively, these changes have far-reaching implications for governance, representation, and the electoral framework of this country, making it all the more important that the process is transparent, inclusive, consultative, and well-informed. 

Through years of election observation since 2008, our reports have consistently highlighted areas for improvement, including the need for transparent procedures, robust voter education, inclusive participation, and strengthened safeguards against misuse of power or resources. These observations show that the integrity of electoral and constitutional processes depends not only on laws and institutions but also on citizens being informed, vigilant, and engaged.   

To address the failures and structural concerns identified in this review Transparency Maldives proposes the following recommendations:  

To Elections Commissions:  

1. Provide adequate and balanced referendum voter information to address the current awareness gap before 4th April. 

2. Publicly confirm ballot secrecy re-registration outcomes. 

3. Ensure ballot templates for visually impaired voters are available at all polling stations on April 4. 

4. Publish the polling station operational handbook and training programme. 

To the Executive: 

1. Go beyond the legal minimum requirements in referendum voter information for future referendums and publish balanced and comprehensive voter information, including arguments both in favour and against, to ensure voters understand the full constitutional implications of the vote outcome. 

2. Commit to not using state resources asymmetrically in referendum campaigns, including but not limited to state communications infrastructure, government media channels, or public funding and applying the same standard of neutrality expected of the ECM on the referendum question. 

3. Publicly clarify the legal status of the H. Dh Hirimaradhoo decree conditionality and address the Hirimaradhoo governance void with a contingency framework. 

To People’s Majilis:  

1. Amend the Public Referendum Act to require balanced voter information, single-subject questions, a campaign finance framework, an aligned registry publication period, a pre-referendum judicial challenge mechanism, and an approval threshold for constitutional referendums. 

2. Ensure adequate parliamentary process, meaningful parliamentary scrutiny and public consultation before future constitutional amendments triggering mandatory referendums.  

3. Amend LCE Act, Section 20(b) to reinstate campaign finance accountability for local elections, as well as to introduce a nomination-stage gender quota, and establish a statutory mechanism for resettlement-linked electoral geography changes. 

4. Establish a legal framework for concurrent elections. 

5. Amend the General Elections Law to mandate minimum re-registration window of no less than 14 days for ballot secrecy measures, address disability accessibility gaps. 

6. Amend candidacy dispute provisions to ensure expedited remedy for state system failures. 

To Political Parties: 

1. Voluntarily disclose campaign finance for local elections. 

2. Commit to equal, accurate messaging in referendum campaigns. 

3. Commit to fielding female candidates beyond the statutory minimum.  

4. Monitor anti-defection framework implementation and report concerns. 

To Observer and Accountability Bodies 

1. Deploy observers with specific accessibility mandates on April 4. 

2. Monitor ballot secrecy arrangements at identified at-risk boxes.  

3. Monitor PSM and other broadcasters for equal platform compliance. 

– ENDS –