Nasheed pledges to repeal foreign freehold amendment

Former president Mohamed Nasheed has pledged to repeal a controversial constitutional amendment to allow foreign freeholds.

Parliament amended the constitution in 2015, with opposition party backing, to authorise foreign ownership of land or freeholds despite calls for a public referendum.

Nasheed, who is campaigning for this year’s election as Jazeera Raees or ‘Island President’, vowed to repeal the amendment during a Skype video call with young people.

Nasheed said “we will reverse it” when asked about foreign freeholds but said he believed “foreigners who wish to buy a second home must be facilitated with renting land for a long period of time without getting ownership of that property.”