The Supreme Court ruled against halting Saturday's referendum on concurrent presidential and parliamentary elections, finding that the question put to voters does not conflict with the constitutional requirement. The constitutional challenge was filed by lawyers for the opposition MDP, who argued that the constitution only requires the referendum to ask voters about changes to the term of parliament, rather than on the full scope of the amendment passed by parliament, which proposed holding the two elections on the same day by reducing the current parliament's term in order to align with the 2028 presidential elections. Delivering the verdict, Chief Justice Abdul Ghani Mohamed said the constitution does not specify how a public referendum question should be worded. The Public Referendum Act, ratified in September, allows a referendum question to seek voters’ opinion on more than one matter, he noted.
A severed hand was found underwater near the shark point off Vaavu Fulidhoo, about 10 kilometres from the site of a fatal accident on March 17, which involved a race boat owned by Indian businessman Gautam Singhania . Two Indian men who went missing have not been found. Seven people were on board when the vessel overturned: an English woman, a Russian woman and five Indian men. The Russian woman and four of the Indian men were thrown into the water. Three people were initially treated at Vaavu Atoll Hospital, with two later transferred to Tree Top Hospital, police said at the time. One of the Indian men injured in the accident had lost an arm and was flown back to India for treatment on March 21.
Police increased pay for select officers by raising their rank allowance to a second tier for those who have remained in the same rank and grade for two years and scored 75 percent or higher in the two-year average of their performance appraisals. Police Spokesman Ahmed Shifan said the change was made because March 1 marked two years since the police were brought under the state pay framework, which required rank allowances to be reviewed after two years.
The Maldives government has been negotiating with US-based Cargill Financial Services International to borrow around US$ 300 million to help settle the US$ 500 million sukuk maturing on April 8, Nikkei Asia reported, citing former finance ministry official Ahmed Saruvash Adam. Cargill is seeking 13 percent interest while the government's ceiling is nine percent. A European investor told the publication that if the government truly has sufficient reserves, "there is no need to turn to Cargill, unless these record dollar figures are only reserves on paper." The sukuk is trading at 90 cents on the dollar, up from a low of 65 cents in April last year. Fitch Ratings warned that the Iran war could exacerbate external liquidity strains and weigh on foreign exchange reserve buffers. The World Bank had flagged public and publicly guaranteed debt at US$ 9.5 billion, 126.9 percent of GDP.
President Muizzu took part in the launch of a housing project in Hulhumalé for the third consecutive night, attending the groundbreaking for 364 housing units under the Bank of Maldives Affordable Housing Project in Hulhumalé Phase I. Amin Construction was awarded the contract for the project, completing the groundbreaking of all 3,260 units planned under the scheme across Hulhumalé and Vilimalé. At the ceremony, BML also pledged to develop an additional 540 housing units.
Two alleged leaders of a drug trafficking network in Fuvahmulah – 30-year-old Hassan Azim and 35-year-old Ahmed Niushad – were detained just two months after the High Court released them under conditions while they stand trial on charges of money laundering and involvement in an organised criminal group. Police said the pair were arrested on Sunday night over concerns they could tamper with evidence. The Prosecutor General’s Office said they had breached the conditions of their release and were therefore taken back into custody. The Criminal Court ordered their detention for the remainder of the trial.
Lawyer Mariyam Shunana filed a constitutional case at the High Court seeking to halt the referendum scheduled for Saturday. The petition argues that the referendum was announced just 47 days before polling, leaving insufficient time to properly inform voters about the proposed change and for both supporters and opponents to campaign. The case also contends that the Elections Commission failed to carry out the level of due diligence required by law when assessing the president’s request for the referendum before announcing the vote. Shunana also asked the court to issue an injunction to stop the referendum. If an injunction is not granted, she requested an order preventing the Elections Commission from announcing the results or taking any action based on the outcome of the poll.
Opposition MP Mohamed Ibrahim questioned the Elections Commission over why ballot papers for the local council election, Women’s Development Committee election and the referendum were all printed on the same colour paper, despite the commission’s handbook and polling officials’ training materials stating that each would be printed in different colours. He wrote to EC President Mohamed Zahir after the commission published images showing what the ballot papers would look like. The lawmaker asked why the ballot papers differed from what had been presented during training and what measures were in place to safeguard ballot secrecy. He also sought clarification over allegations of corruption in the preparation and publication of the ballot papers. The commission denied allegations that polling officials would compromise the secrecy of the vote.
The Islamic ministry signed an MoU with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Company to finance the development of a grand mosque in Hulhumalé. Minister Shaheem said construction would begin on occasion of the 900-year anniversary of the Maldives embracing of Islam. The concept development of the mosque has already been completed, he said.
