President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has stated that he supports establishing a preferential voting system that would conclude the presidential election in one round. He said this in a message posted to the WhatsApp channel he created to provide information to the public. In the President’s message, he stated that the voting system he advocates for is the preferential voting system. This system eliminates the second round of the presidential election and allows people to rank their preferred candidates when voting.
In addition to the President, former President Mohamed Nasheed has also expressed support for a preferential voting system. He revealed this in a post shared on social media. Some major countries in the world use a preferential system in presidential elections. In countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, this system exists where people vote by ranking candidates in order of preference instead of voting for just one candidate.
Currently in the Maldives, for a presidential election to be won in the first round, a candidate must receive 50% plus one vote of the voting public. Otherwise, a second round of the election must be held. Since the presidential system, all elections in the Maldives have elected the President after two rounds of voting. The Elections Commission also notes that having to hold two rounds in the presidential election is extremely costly.
While the President supports moving to a preferential voting system with one round for the presidential election, he also supports holding the presidential election and the parliamentary election together.
