EFSAS comments on the Parliamentary election results in the Maldives
April 19, 2019
As per the Election Commission of the Maldives, a total of 386 candidates were in the fray on 6 April for the 87 seats in the People’s Majlis, the Maldivian parliament. The MDP achieved a spectacular victory, gaining a two-thirds majority with 65 of the 87 seats. The MDP won all but one seat from the capital Malé, and made a clean sweep of the southernmost Fuvahmulah and Addu cities, as well as of Kulhudhuffushi and Thinadhoo. The MDP also won in islands with small populations where the party previously lacked a strong base, particularly constituencies in Shaviyani, Raa, and Meemu atolls. The MDP thus became the first party to win an outright majority since multi-party elections were introduced in the country in 2008. It had won 26 seats in both the previous elections that were held in 2009 and 2014.
