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Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the Maldives September 2028. [1] Voters will elect a president and vice president for a four-year term. Incumbent president, leader of the People's National Congress, Mohamed Muizzu is eligible for a second term.
The president is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round is held with just the top two candidates. [2]
In November 2024 Muizzu announced plans to hold a referendum on replacing the two-round system with instant runoff voting, allowing the elections to be held in a single round of voting. [2] He also proposed holding the presidential and parliamentary elections on the same day. [2]
In November 2024 Abdul Raheem Abdulla, chairman of the People's National Congress, stated that Muizzu would be automatically selected as the party's nominee for the 2028 elections rather than holding party primaries to determine the candidate. [3]
Maldivian Democratic Party chair Fayyaz Ismail stated that he would enter the contest to be the party's nominee, [3] while former president Abdulla Yameen of the People's National Front has also stated he would run for the presidency. [4]
The history of the Maldives is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions, comprising the areas of South Asia and the Indian Ocean. The modern nation is formed of 26 natural atolls, comprising 1194 islands. Historically, the Maldives has held strategic importance due to its location on the major marine routes of the Indian Ocean. The Maldives's nearest neighbors are the British Indian Ocean Territory, Sri Lanka and India. The United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, and some Indian kingdoms have had cultural and economic ties with the Maldives for centuries. In addition to these countries, Maldivians also traded with Aceh and many other kingdoms in what is today Indonesia and Malaysia. The Maldives provided the primary source of cowrie shells, which were then used as currency throughout Asia and parts of the East African coast. Most likely, the Maldives were influenced by the Kalingas of ancient India. The Kalingas were the earliest region of India to trade with Sri Lanka and the Maldives and were responsible for the spread of Buddhism. Stashes of Chinese crockery found buried in various locations in the Maldives also show that there was direct or indirect trade contact between China and the Maldives. In 1411 and 1430, the Chinese admiral Zheng He (鄭和) visited the Maldives. The Chinese also became the first country to establish a diplomatic office in the Maldives when the Chinese nationalist government based in Taipei opened an embassy in Malé in 1966. The Embassy of the People's Republic of China has since replaced this office.
The politics of the Maldives take place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is the Head of Government. Executive power is exercised by the government. The President heads the executive branch and appoints the Cabinet; like many presidential democracies, each member of the cabinet need to be approved by the Parliament. The President, along with their pick for vice president, is directly elected by the denizens to a five-year term by a secret ballot. Once in office, they could be re-elected to a second 5-year term, which is the limit allowed by the Constitution. The current President of the Maldives is Mohamed Muizzu, when his predecessor, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih lost the 2023 Maldivian presidential election.
The Maldivian Democratic Party is the first political party formed in the Republic of Maldives with a total membership of 50,980 individuals as of July 28, 2024.
The president of the Republic of Maldives is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Maldives and the commander-in-chief of the Maldives National Defence Force.
Presidential elections were held in the Maldives on 8 and 23 October 2008, the first democratic elections in the country. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held on 28 October between the two candidates among the contestants who received the most votes, incumbent president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed, who received the second most votes after Gayoom in the first round. Nasheed was elected to the office after winning a majority in the runoff, unseating incumbent president Gayoom who held the office for six terms, lasting three decades.
The Cabinet of the Maldives is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of the Maldives. It is made up of the President, the Vice President, Attorney General and the Ministers.
The Progressive Party of Maldives, is a political party in the Maldives with a total membership of 35,044 as of 25 April 2024. The stated goal of the party is driving Maldives towards an independent and democratic, safe and secure, high income, high human capital, developed nation state with a diversified and robust economy whilst preserving its Islamic heritage. The party is to be dissolved.
Presidential elections were held in the Maldives on 7, 9 and 16 November 2013. The first round was held on 7 September. As no candidate received a majority, a second round was planned to be held in 28 September between the candidates who received the most votes in the first round, former President Mohamed Nasheed and Abdulla Yameen, paternal half-brother of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Incumbent President Mohammed Waheed Hassan was eliminated in the first round after receiving less votes than three other candidates.
Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom is a Maldivian politician who served as president of the Maldives from 2013 to 2018.
Presidential elections were held in the Maldives on Sunday, 23 September 2018. Incumbent president Abdulla Yameen of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) was seeking re-election for a second five-year term. His only challenger was Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), who was nominated as the joint candidate of a coalition of opposition parties.
Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Frequently referred to as Ibu, is a Maldivian politician who served as the 7th President of the Maldives from 2018 to 2023. Solih was a parliamentarian for 15 years, he represented the Hinnavaru constituency and the Lhaviyani Atoll constituency during his tenure. He played a significant role in the democratic reforms of the Maldives and led the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to victory in the 2018 presidential election. Solih was elected president on 23 September 2018 after winning the 2018 presidential election as the candidate for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). His presidency focused on democratic governance, environmental sustainability, and strengthening international relations.
Parliamentary elections were held in the Maldives on 6 April 2019. The result was a landslide victory for the Maldivian Democratic Party, which won 65 of the 87 seats in the People's Majlis. This was the first time in Maldivian history that one party was able to secure a supermajority in parliament.
The People's National Congress, abbreviated as PNC, is a political party in the Maldives founded in January 2019 and the current governing party. The party's formation was spearheaded by former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who had been in a dispute with the leadership of the Progressive Party of Maldives.
Presidential elections were held in the Maldives on Saturday, 9 September 2023, with a second round held on 30 September. Incumbent president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was seeking re-election, after defeating the-then Speaker of the People's Majlis Mohamed Nasheed in the Maldivian Democratic Party primaries. People's National Congress candidate and Malé mayor Mohamed Muizzu won the election with 54% of the votes, defeating Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and becoming President-elect of the Maldives. It was the fourth consecutive election in which a Maldivian president failed to win reelection, the last to do so having been Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ran unopposed, in 2003.
The following lists events that happened during 2023 in the Maldives.
Mohamed Muizzu is a Maldivian politician and engineer who has been serving as the 8th president of the Maldives and leader of the Progressive Congress coalition since 2023. He previously served as housing minister from 2012 to 2018, making him the longest-serving housing minister in Maldivian history. Muizzu was the mayor of Malé from 2021 until his resignation in 2023.
Abdul Raheem Abdulla more popularly known as Adhurey is a Maldivian politician currently serving the 21st speaker of the People's Majlis since 28 May 2024 before which he was serving as a Special Advisor to the President of Republic of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu. He is the chairman of People's National Congress.
The following lists events that happened during 2024 in the Maldives.
Parliamentary elections were held in the Maldives on 21 April 2024, having previously been scheduled for 17 March. The election date was changed to April after President Mohamed Muizzu ratified election postponement bill by the People's Majlis passed on 28 February. Due to Grade 7, 8 and 9 exams scheduled for 16–27 April clashing with the parliamentary election date, the Ministry of Education decided to bring forward the tests to 27 March–25 April.
Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's tenure as the 6th President of the Maldives began on 17 November 2013 after he won the 2013 Maldivian presidential election against then-President Mohamed Waheed Hassan and ended on 17 November 2018 after he lost to Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the 2018 Maldivian presidential election.