Comment: Institutions crying for reforms faster than expected?

While such a need has been acutely felt over the five-year infancy of the 2008 constitution that ushered in multi-party democracy, increasing differences and purported diffidence involving the Supreme Court and the Elections Commission (EC) have made a case for a review without further delay.

For a nation of its size, population, and requirements of ‘good governance’, the Maldives may have saddled itself with more ‘independent institutions’ than may have been required. In a politically-polarised society, where the presidential polls late last year witnessed a turnout of 91.41 percent and a narrow victory-margin in the second round, it is hard to claim that every member manning these constitutional institutions is ‘independent’.

Even while ‘independent institutions’ and their individual members may be impartial, it has not been uncommon for political players to make sweeping charges of partisanship, at times reiterated ad infinitum without substantive evidence. Given the small population (350,000) and the thin density/spread outside of two or three ‘urban centres’, the advent of private television news and social media have not contributed to a healthy discourse on politics and public administration.