The Bar Council has decided to hold a panel discussion regarding the public referendum scheduled for next month to seek citizens' views on holding the Presidential Election and the People's Majlis Election on the same day.
Attorney General Ahmed Usham will participate as a panelist in the discussion, which will be held this coming Saturday afternoon. Additionally, two former Attorneys General, Azima Shakoor and Dhiyana Saeed, will also participate.
All three of these individuals are supporters of consolidating the two elections.
Other participants joining as panelists include former Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizzu, lawyer Shahindha Hameed, who served as the Vice President of the Special Majlis that drafted the Constitution, and Dr. Shamsul Falaah, who has conducted numerous legal researches. Dr. Falaah is someone who advocates against consolidating the two elections.
The public referendum is scheduled to be held alongside the Local Council Elections on April 4.
The question asked in the referendum is whether the President should ratify the "Bill on the 8th Amendment to the Constitution," passed by the People's Majlis to establish the practice of holding Presidential and Parliamentary elections together and to define the rules for calculating the term of the People's Majlis.
While the government is campaigning in support of this vote, the opposition MDP is opposing it. The party has even submitted a case to the High Court to stop the vote. However, no decision has been made yet on whether to accept the case.
Two constitutional cases have also been submitted to the Supreme Court to stop the public referendum on holding the Presidential and Parliamentary elections on the same day.
Of the two cases submitted by a group of lawyers, the Supreme Court has accepted one.
