Spacing out both elections was never considered: Usham

Attorney General Ahmed Usham stated today that having a large window of time between the Presidential Election and the Parliamentary Election was never considered when the new Constitution was put together.

A Referendum Bill has been submitted to the Parliament on behalf of the government in order to combine both elections. Usham had attended today's meeting with the Committee on Independent Institutions for the vetting process of the bill. 

At the committee, Usham said that one of the biggest criticisms regarding the combining of both elections is the public's loss in keeping President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu held accountable regarding the Parliamentary Election. However, Usham said that he does not believe it to be true.

As it stands, the Parliamentary Election is held around six months after the President is sworn in. The most recent election was in April.

Usham went on to say that having the swearing-in ceremony in between two elections was not thought of when the Constitution was amended. Usham also said that the Constitution was drawn up without taking that into consideration as well.

With that, even though the new Constitution states that the first Parliamentary Election is to be held before 1st March, Usham said that this was not observed in any way.

"By looking at Article 296 of the Constitution, it states that Parliamentary Election is to take place on 15th February, with the election to be held and the new Parliament to be elected before 1st March. If the Constitution was observed as such, a new Parliament would have been elected within two to three months of the President being sworn in. The current time frame would not even exist," said Usham.

"Having a large window of time between the Presidential Election and the Parliamentary Election was never in their minds. And so, bringing about such an amendment would only serve to be beneficial."

The Attorney General said that he does not believe six months is enough from the time a President gets elected for his work to be gauged, and that it is also not enough time for results from the President's policies to be shown.

While backing the combining of both elections, Usham said that the amendment to the Constitution can only be made through a referendum vote. And so, they are working to make the amendments so that the referendum vote can be held alongside the Local Council Election.