Referendum defeated, cities lost: voters deliver mid-term rebuke to Muizzu

Provisional results on Sunday morning show 68 percent voted no on the referendum. The result kills the eighth amendment to the constitution. The current People's Majlis term will run to its scheduled expiry in May 2029, and presidential and parliamentary elections will continue to be held months apart.

The scale of the defeat exceeded expectations after the ruling People's National Congress deployed the full apparatus of state in the campaign – from a one-sided official information paper to a pre-election spending spree of project launches, rent waivers, and new services – and the Supreme Court cleared the way for the vote to proceed. Nearly seven in 10 voters said no in the referendum.

The MDP swept the mayor's seats, several by commanding margins as all five incumbents retained their seats. Malé Mayor Adam Azim won with 45.21 percent of the vote, defeating PNC candidate Moosa Ali Jaleel, a retired general, who took 30.12 percent. Ismail Zariyand – who was backed by former President Abdulla Yameen's People's National Front –  came third with 20.64 percent. Independent Ahmed Aiham received 2.90 percent and the Maldives Development Alliance's Abdulla Mahzoom Majid 1.12 percent.

Kulhudhuffushi Mayor Mohamed Athif was the most popular incumbent. He secured re-election with 68.84 percent over PNC's Ibrahim Hassan (31.16 percent). In the southernmost atoll, Addu Mayor Ali Nizar won decisively with 64.96 percent over PNC's Mushrif Ali. In Fuvahmulah, Mayor Ismail Rafeeq won by a similar margin of 63.87 percent over PNC's Ali Maseeh. Thinadhoo was the closest race. Saud Ali held on with 50.58 percent over PNC's Mohamed Ajeeb (49.42 percent).

All five Women's Development Committee presidencies in the cities also went to the MDP.

The PNC did not fare much better in the rest of the country. Provisional results show the MDP won 70 island council president seats to the PNC's 69 contested wins (70 including one uncontested confirmation). Independent candidates made a striking showing as well, winning 25 council presidencies. Resort magnate Ahmed Shyam Mohamed's Maldives Development Alliance took three, the Jumhooree Party won leader Qasim Ibrahim's native Maamigili, and The Democrats took Vaavu Thinadhoo.

The MDP held key islands including Hoarafushi, Ihavandhoo, Kelaa, Hanimaadhoo, Hinnavaru, and Gadhdhoo, though it lost some former strongholds including Ukulhas, Rasdhoo, and Maafushi. In Addu, where the city council was reduced after the October 2025 referendum, the PNC failed to win the new Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo council presidencies. Hulhudhoo went to the MDP and Meedhoo to an independent.

The PNC won Dhidhdhoo, Funadhoo, Eydhafushi, Naifaru, and Gaaf Alif Vilingili, but lost Mahibadhoo and Vice President Hussain Mohamed Latheef's home island of Faresmaathodaa.

The overall seat count understates the scale of the PNC's defeat. The ruling party won just six of 52 seats across the five cities, which account for more than half the Maldivian population. The PNC's national tally was built largely on small island councils with populations under 2,000. The MDP holds working majorities in every city council.

President Muizzu conceded defeat close to midnight, congratulating the winners and pledging to "carry out the work needed to improve what needs improving, in line with the pulse of the people." He did not address the referendum defeat specifically.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed, who returned to the MDP last year, said the party had "defeated the government by a large margin". Former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was more pointed: "The people have said no to the government's policies. They are saying the government's direction must change." He called on the administration to "listen to the people's voice without delay and change its policies accordingly."

MDP candidates and supporters gathered at Malé's eastern artificial beach to celebrate at midnight.

But on social media, several observers suggested the outcome was less an endorsement of the MDP than a mid-term rejection of the Muizzu administration, consistent with a pattern in which no incumbent president has won re-election since the first multi-party democratic elections in 2008. Voters turned against both Yameen and Solih despite record infrastructure spending. They have now turned against Muizzu despite a two-week blitz of project launches, rent waivers, and jobs at state-owned enterprises.

Before polling day, the MDP decried what it called a "systematic campaign of intimidation, bribery, and abuse of state resources", noting the distribution of Umrah trips, washing machines, and cash payments for votes, as well as alleged direct threats to public sector workers that they would lose their positions if they voted the wrong way on the referendum. 

Dhauru journalist Muzayyin Nazim listed what politicians should learn from the result: don't hand out jobs and promotions, don't waive fines and rent, don't lay foundation stones every night, don't distribute projects, don't tear down opponents' banners.

The result also does not mean voters oppose electoral reform. Several commentators argued that a mid-term parliamentary election or staggered seats – alternatives that were never seriously debated – would have addressed both the supermajority problem and the accountability deficit. 

The referendum was "the first time the people have spoken directly in defence of the constitution," wrote veteran editor Moosa Latheef, who had made impassioned pleas for a no vote in the days before the election. The result carried a message for Muizzu, the attorney general, and the PNC's parliamentary group, he said: "Don't try to abolish the second round of the presidential election." He reported that a senior PNC figure had told him, well before the vote, that "the president is trying to get another five years that God didn't give him." The source was a senior, influential, educated PNC member.

"The people were not the puppets. Thank you, Maldivians," Latheef wrote. 

The Elections Commission faced the sharpest criticism of any administration of polls over the past two decades. Voters at Hulhumalé Phase 2's Kaamil Didi Pre School reported queuing for more than four hours. Tent-based polling stations at the Henveiru stadium in Malé drew complaints of dust and overcrowding. Ballot boxes were placed on the ground, making it difficult and confusing for elderly voters to cast their three separate ballots. Journalist Ali Sulaiman, who has observed every election since 2003, said he had never seen arrangements this poor.

The extension of voting hours was announced with less than five minutes' notice before the scheduled close, a decision Transparency Maldives said risked "undermining public trust in the institution and the electoral process." At 20 percent of observed polling stations, ballot secrecy was not guaranteed, and at six of 26 stations observed at closing, ballot reconciliation was delayed and only done after a break, TM reported. Voters with disabilities who had registered to use ballot templates found that some stations did not have them or that officials did not know how to administer them, a failure the pre-election legal review had warned about.

The day's most contentious issue was a ballot secrecy dispute. In a press conference the night before the election – after observer and official training was complete – the Elections Commission announced that voters who declined any of the three ballot papers would have their refusal publicly declared in the polling station and recorded. The last-minute change was not included in training materials, risked administrative confusion and unequal application, and could compromise the secrecy of voters, Transparency Maldives said.

TM called abuse of state resources "a major electoral issue" that skews the contest and unfairly favours the ruling party.

"Since the start of the campaigns, back-to-back project announcements, rising political appointees, and use of state-owned enterprises deepen patronage networks, threatening fair elections," the organisation warned. 

"Frequent changes to infrastructure and socio-economic policies near elections, without transparent planning or consultation, risk inequitable development and unduly influence voter choice. Disinformation and anti-campaigning are serious concerns during the campaign period. False narratives, smear tactics, and the misuse of media platforms undermine voter confidence and distort the democratic process."