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The unicameralMajlis of the Maldives is composed of 93 members serving a five-year term. The total number of the members representing each constituency depends on the total population of that constituency. The last parliamentary election was held on 21 April 2024.
The Maldivian legal system is derived mainly from the traditional Islamic law. There is a Supreme Court with 5 judges including the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice is appointed by the President, with the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission. Parliament is required to approve the appointment before he assumes office. Excluding the Supreme Court, there also exists the High Court (two branches), a Criminal Court, Civil Court, Family Court, Juvenile Court, Drug Court and many Lower Courts in each Atoll/Island. An Attorney General is part of the Cabinet and also needs the approval of Parliament before taking office.
Under the new 2008 constitution, the function of Local Government is devolved to an Atoll Council to administer each atoll and an Island Council to administer each inhabited island. Island councilors are elected by the people of each island, and the Atoll Councilors are in turn elected by the Island Councilors.
The Constitution of the Maldives requires the following for a president: be a Maldivian citizen born to parents who are Maldivian citizens, and who is not also a citizen of a foreign country; be a Muslim and a follower of a Sunni school of Islam;[3]
A 1968 referendum approved a constitution making Maldives a republic with executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The constitution was amended in 1970, 1972, 1975, and 1997 and again in 2008.
The Maldives have scored poorly on some indices of freedom. The "Freedom in the World" index, a measure of political rights and civil liberties published by Freedom House, judged Maldives as "not free" until May 1, 2009, when it was raised to "partly free".[7][8] The "Worldwide Press Freedom Index", published by Reporters Without Borders, ranks Maldives 106 out of 180 in terms of press freedom as of 2024.[9]
In September 2018, a presidential election was held, during which Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was elected to the post of president, with 58.38% of the public vote. He stood as a member of a joint opposition to Yameen Abdul Gayoom's regime, which had been condemned internationally for shutting down free speech, and violating human rights.[10]
On 30 September 2023, PNC/PPM candidate Mohamed Muizzu won the second-round runoff of the Maldives presidential election, beating incumbent president Ibrahim Solih with 54% of the vote.[11] On 17 October 2023, Mohamed Muizzu was sworn in as the ninth President of the Republic of Maldives.[12]
In April 2024, President Mohamed Muizzu’s pro-China People’s National Congress (PNC) won 66 seats in the 2024 Maldivian parliamentary election, while its allies took nine, giving the president the backing of 75 legislators in the 93-member house, meaning a super-majority and enough to change the constitution.[13]
The Cabinet of the Maldives presided by the President, contains the Vice President and ministers. there are currently 22 ministers that lead their respective ministries, they are:
On a national level, Maldives elects a head of state– the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people since 2008. Until 2005 (after the election), no legal parties existed. The results of the most recent legislative elections held in 2024 are:
The Maldivian parliament voted unanimously for the creation of a multiparty system on June 2, 2005.[16] Prior to June 2005, the Maldivian political system was based on the election of individuals, rather than the more common system of election according to party platform. In June 2005, as part of an ongoing programme of democratic reform, new regulations were promulgated to formally recognized political parties within the framework of the electoral system.
In the 2019 parliamentary election, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) won 65 seats in the 87 seat parliament. This was the first time a single party was able to get such a high number of seats in the parliament in Maldivian history.[18]
The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is a country and archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 750 kilometres from the Asian continent's mainland. The Maldives' chain of 26 atolls stretches across the equator from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south.
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 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 probably, Maldives were influenced by Kalingas of ancient India who were earliest sea traders to Sri Lanka and the Maldives from India, 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.
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is a Maldivian politician and islamic scholar who served as President of the Maldives from 1978 to 2008. After serving as transport minister, he was nominated president by the People's Majlis and succeeded Ibrahim Nasir in 1978. He was defeated in 2008 during the first Presidential Elections after democratic reforms in the Maldives. He holds the nations highest award, "The Most Honourable Order of the Distinguished Rule of Ghazi", presented to him in 2013. Maumoon was the longest-serving president in Asia.
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 28 July 2024.
Majeediyya School is the first Maldivian government school, located in Malé, Maldives. It only accepted boys until the introduction of Primary Education in 2010, which allowed girls to attend the school as well. The English medium is followed throughout all subjects, with the exception of Dhivehi and Islam.
Mohamed Nasheed GCSK, also known as Anni, is a Maldivian politician and activist who served as president of the Maldives from 2008 until his resignation in 2012. A founding member of the Maldivian Democratic Party, he subsequently served as the 19th speaker of the People's Majlis from May 2019 until his resignation in November 2023. He is the first democratically elected president of the Maldives and the only president to resign from office. He is currently a member of The Democrats.
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.
Qasim Ibrahim, also known as Burumaa Qasim, is a Maldivian politician, business magnate and philanthropist. As the chairman and founder of the Villa Group, he is one of the country's wealthiest businessmen, with a net worth of around MVR 18 billion.
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.
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, commonly known as Ibu, is a Maldivian politician who served as president of the Maldives from 2018 to 2023.
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.
The following lists events that happened during 2024 in the Maldives.
The Inauguration of Mohamed Muizzu as the 8th President of the Republic of the Maldives, The ceremony took place on 17 November 2023, at the Republic Square of the Maldives. the 6th presidential inauguration of the Maldives, was one of the biggest presidential inauguration in the Maldivian history.
In January 2024, relations between India and the Maldives, traditionally close neighbors with strong historical and cultural ties, became strained due to derogatory remarks made by Maldivian cabinet ministers and concerns over racism directed at Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India as a whole.
Mohamed Muizzu's tenure as the 9th President of the Maldives began with his inauguration on 17 November 2023. Muizzu, a People's National Congress politician who previously served as Housing Minister for two terms under president Mohamed Waheed Hassan and Abdulla Yameen. Muizzu was the Mayor of Malé from 2021 until his resignation in 2023.
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