2024 Maldivian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in the Maldives on 21 April 2024, previously scheduled for 17 March 2024. The election date was changed to April after President Mohamed Muizzu ratified election postponement bill by the People's Majlis passed on 28 February. Due to Grade 7, 8 and 9 exams scheduled for 16–27 April clashing with the parliamentary election date, the Ministry of Education decided to bring forward the tests to 27 March–25 April.

The result was a landslide victory for Muizzu's People's National Congress (PNC) and a heavy defeat for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which won a similar landslide in the 2019 elections. The results were seen as an endorsement of Muizzu's plan to press ahead with closer economic cooperation with China and a rebuke of the pro-India MDP, which had sought to disrupt efforts to realign Maldivian diplomacy.

Background
The election was held amid a dispute between President Mohamed Muizzu and the outgoing People's Majlis, which blocked several of his initiatives as well as the appointment of three of his nominated cabinet members.

Electoral system
The 93 seats in the People's Majlis are elected in single-member constituencies using the first-past-the-post system. Prior to the elections, the number of seats was increased from 87 to 93, with six new seats created. In the election, 98 constituencies are being contested by a total of 368 candidates, while around 284,000 people are eligible to vote.

Constituencies
Seats in the People's Majlis are split in conformity of Article 10 of the Electoral Constituencies Act which emphasizes stabilization of equal balance amid representation of parliamentary seats. The Act stipulates that two representatives must be appointed for a populace of 5000 or fewer in an administrative division with an additional seat allocated to account for a population surge of another 5000 constituents.

Consequent to the observation of population increases across several regions within the last five years, the number of constituencies was increased to 93 with six new constituencies added to the earlier 87 seats in the 19th parliamentary term.

Campaign
The Parliamentary Elections Regulations include a comprehensive code of conduct aimed at regulating the behavior of candidates and their supporters during the campaign period. However, concerns were raised over restrictions imposed by the code on freedom of expression and campaigning.

Despite these concerns, the campaign leading up to the parliamentary elections was relatively peaceful. The Maldives Police Service indicated that they did not anticipate any major disruptions, disturbances, or protests either during the campaign period or on Election Day. However, there were potential risks of some disturbances, particularly due to the alleged links of several candidates to gangs.

One key concern was the possibility of disagreements or clashes between supporters of rival candidates, especially in light of incidents during the People's National Congress (PNC) and Maldivian Democratic Party primaries. The Maldives Police Service said they were prepared to handle any such scenarios that may arise.

People's National Congress
For this election, the PNC entered into a coalition agreement with the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), but solely fielded candidates from the PNC, contesting to secure all but three seats this term. The constituencies they had relinquished offered leeway for political leaders of Jumhooree Party (Qasim Ibrahim vying for the Maamigili seat), Maldives Development Alliance (MDA)'s Ahmed Siyam running for the Meedhoo Constituency and Maldives National Party (MNP)'s Mohamed Nazim contesting for the North Maafannu seat, with Special Advisor to the President, Abdul Raheem Abdulla affirming that these seats were forfeited in a bid to display respect to these leaders.

Candidates
The People's National Congress had 90 candidates, followed by the Maldivian Democratic Party with 89 candidates. There were 130 independent candidates among 93 constituencies and four candidates from the Adhaalath Party and the Jumhooree Party. Two candidates contested from the Maldives National Party.

Results
Allegations of vote buying and undue influence were made on election day. Initial results suggested that the president's party, the People's National Congress was on course to win at least 70 seats. Maldivian media described the results as giving a supermajority for the PNC, with its numbers allowing it to achieve the two-thirds in the People's Majlis that is required to amend the constitution. The PNC's successes came at the cost of the MDP, which itself held a supermajority in the outgoing Majlis and lost its strongholds of Malé, Addu City and Kulhudhuffushi to the PNC.

Aftermath
MDP chair Fayyaz Ismail congratulated the PNC for winning the election but vowed that it would continue to "hold it accountable as responsible opposition". Several independent candidates who won in the election later joined the PNC, pushing its total number of seats to 73.

Reactions
The United States Department of State said it was "glad to hear observers reported no major issues or irregularities, and that the results are indicative of the will of the people".