A brawl broke out at a polling station during the PNC's internal elections on Saturday. Videos circulating online showing a large altercation among candidates' representatives as a Hulhumalé North ballot box was being counted, with chairs thrown and people heard threatening each other despite two police officers being present in the hall. Police said they were investigating after a group entered a school in Hulhumalé Phase 2, where the count was under way, at around 9.15pm, damaged the school and its property, and assaulted people there. But PNC parliamentary group leader Ibrahim Falah told Mihaaru there had been no major unrest. PNC chairperson Abdul Raheem Abdulla said 33,000 of about 40,000 eligible members voted across 119 ballot boxes for some 2,500 candidates. He said the election had been peaceful and orderly.
Mohamed Yaseen, a former fisheries deputy minister, was dismissed for allegedly taking millions from people by promising to secure flats and land under the government's housing schemes. The government spokesman told Adhadhu that Yaseen was removed after the allegations surfaced in the media and were looked into. According to Adhadhu, Yaseen took money from fisheries ministry staff, judges and some members of the public by promising to guarantee them flats and plots. He collected between MVR 200,000 (US$ 12,970) and MVR 400,000 from people promised flats, and up to MVR 3 million from some promised land. A source with knowledge of the matter said the total he fraudulently obtained was likely more than MVR 25 million.
Customs cancelled the import declarations for two containers of cigarettes brought in before the cigarette duty was cut, against its own legal department's advice, Adhadhu reported. The importing company asked for them to be cancelled after the government announced it would reduce the tariff. Sources told Adhadhu the duty due under the rates at the time was MVR 38 million per container, MVR 76 million in total; if the declarations are resubmitted now, the duty would fall to MVR 19 million each, a loss of MVR 38 million in state revenue. The sources said the cancellation was carried on the instructions of certain senior Customs officials. Under Customs regulations, goods that arrived before the amendment took effect can be processed under the new rates only if a declaration had not already been submitted before it came into force.
The Elections Commission would hold elections together and could move to e-voting if the law is changed, but the public must first be won over, new EC President Mohamed Shakeel told PSM. Concurrent elections would free up the hundreds of millions, he said, adding that he believed MPs would consider it. On electronic voting, Shakeel said there was no physical obstacle to introducing it, but that the public was not yet ready and would need sustained awareness efforts first, citing concerns over vote rigging and fraud.
Four men were injured in a gang fight in Villimalé on Friday afternoon. The assault occurred around 3pm between two rival groups, police said, identifying the victims as Maldivian men aged 18, 22, 27, and 31.
Ten Maldivians began fully funded dive training under the second Zero to Divemaster scholarship, run by the Atmosphere Foundation. The three-month programme, delivered with Moodhu Bulhaa Dive Centre and launched at a ceremony in Vilimalé, trains young Maldivians with no prior diving experience to become certified PADI divemasters, aimed at opening careers in the tourism and diving industries. The second batch of 10 – five women and five men – was chosen through a competitive selection ending in interviews. The scholarship covers course fees, materials, PADI registration, accommodation, meals and dive insurance.
A culture of private tuition after school hours has taken hold and needs to change, Education Minister Dr Ismail Shafeeu said at a ceremony for top A-level students. Students spend six hours at school and then another four to six hours in private tuition at home, something he called cause for deep reflection. He said so many hours of study risked harming their mental and physical wellbeing. Students who learn actively, seeking things out themselves, retain about 75 percent of a lesson, he said, while those who are spoon-fed retain very little. He urged parents and students to act, and called on teachers to make sure classroom lessons teach students what they need.
The Maldives' youth population has begun to shrink, with the fertility rate falling from 6.4 children per woman in 1995 to 1.7 in 2022, well below replacement. A national statistics projection warns that as the current young workforce ages over the next 30 years, the working-age population will contract, deepening the country's reliance on foreign labour and its economic strains. Concerns commonly cited for the falling birth rate include high divorce rates and the housing shortage, both seen as discouraging larger families. Officials warn that without quick action the Maldivian population could fall to worrying levels. In his World Population Day message, President Muizzu called for investment in youth health and a structured "care economy" to support an ageing population and ease the unpaid care burden on families, particularly women, and said the 2030 census would use a hybrid of administrative registers and traditional enumeration.
