The Elections Commission has announced that it has decided to hold Addu City Council elections on February 5 along with the Local Council Elections for all other islands, after expressing concern last week that the Civil Court’s overturning of the President’s declaration would have delayed it by two weeks.
President Nasheed last week declared Addu a city for the second time, after the Civil Court ruled in favour of the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) that his first declaration was invalid due to a procedural issue.
The court ruled that the Local Government Authority (LGA) – currently consisting solely of Home Minister Hassan Afeef – had not determined the criteria for a city. The LGA published the criteria in the government gazette and the President declared Addu a city for the second time, however the EC warned last week that this obliged it to repeat the voter registration procedure for Addu.
“The Commission has decided to go ahead with the elections [for Addu] because the President announced that he competed the incomplete procedure on January 10,’’ said the Commission. “According to the law, the the City Council elections can be held in Addu.’’
The Civil Court case was originally filed by Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) deputy leader Imad Solih, sparking hundreds of Adduans and activists to protest outside the home of DQP leader Dr Hassan Saeed – himself a prominent Adduan.
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Thank U Election Commission. There should not be any delay in declaring Addu a 'çity'. Good step Anni.
Addu is a city in my books. Lol.
And a bunch of retarded politicians have no right to say otherwise.
I have said in previous posts that Addu should be the new face of the Maldives..Now elect some young forward looking politicians and start a new chapter in Maldivian history..
It is not a matter of whether Addu should or could be a "city". Certainly the critical mass to accelerate the transformation of a rural settlement to an urban area will require a huge sacrifice.
For example - immigrant labor skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled will need to be introduced. Land will have to be utilized to develop infrastructure and services thereby increasing demand and limiting supply. In the absence of social safety networks that have to be not only institutionalized through legal and administrative frameworks but also developed through education and awareness-raising, certain social ills will increase.
The fact of the matter is, regardless of whether Addu is called a city, a township or a wilderness, the realization of a dream that politicians have evoked by centralizing a non-issue in the media will take ages yet.
The real issue here is the number of council members to be elected in Addu, the corresponding electorate the chances for parties to get their candidates elected by manipulating the distribution.
Simply put, city good for MDP because city have 9 councillors. City bad for DQP because DQP no longer able to form councils for the areas supporting them. DRP also want to divide and conquer. Addu will not become city overnight.
Its a victory for peoples power. The DQP should learn a lesson. The only thing they achieve from the case is loosing the support of addu people. Without Professor.Shaheed, DQP has lost their political wisdom and is moving without a rudder.How can we believe you guys.
@ velezinee
True that Addu will not become city overnight but atleast 'political will' is there. Atleast, the first step has been taken. I thank Anni for that.
there is an old saying in Maldives, which means do not try to run until you can crawl.So how can we run while we cant even crawl. First we need to establish the City and then work on other things. The legal set up of the city can only come with the way forward now. To establish a city there is no need to be as developed as London or Washington or Singapore. Singapore was developed from scratch to the most attractive city in Asia.They never had this backward thinking. Always think forward and lead forward.
this government is doing what has not been done and what could be done in the future. AS a result the past politicians and the present ones alike feel guilt and frustration as what they cannot do is being done now. Well you retards, you never did anything in the past and you lost your chance to do anything in the future too.The five pledges will make Maldives happening for the future generations and of course the suffering of the current generation is eased but will continue due to you retards doing nothing in the past.
Why not call Addu "New York City". Lest it might increase the pace of development.
We have been complaining about lack of infrastructure and low income in the atoll yet this idiot called Vilufushee Afeef decalarde Addu has all these means and should be given a status in per with Male. It was nothing but an insult!