The president of the Republic of Maldives () is the head of state and head of government of the Maldives, and the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces, the Maldives National Defence Force. Under the Constitution of the Maldives, the president is vested with executive power and must exercise it in accordance with the Constitution.
The president is directly elected by universal and secret suffrage for a five-year term. The voting system used for presidential elections is a two-round majority system. Consequently, a candidate must receive more than 50 per cent of the vote to be elected; if no candidate obtains the required majority, a run-off election is held. No person elected to the office of the president may serve more than two terms, consecutive or otherwise. Each presidential candidate contests the election with a vice-presidential running mate.
The office of the presidency was first instituted in 1953, following a constitutional referendum in which the Maldives briefly transitioned from a monarchy to a republic, with Mohamed Amin Didi serving as the nation's first elected president. The monarchy was subsequently restored in 1954, before being abolished following a second constitutional referendum in 1968. The present republican system dates from 11 November 1968, when Ibrahim Nasir became the first president of the Second Republic.
The current president is Mohamed Muizzu, who assumed office on 17 November 2023 after defeating the then incumbent president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the 2023 Maldivian presidential election. Muizzu received 54.04 per cent of the valid votes in the second round of the election.
History
Sultanate and First Republic
The first written constitution of the Maldives was brought to effect in 1932 by Sultan Muhammad Shamsuddeen III. This constitution was written on the advice on the then acting governor of Ceylon, Bernard H. Bourdill in 1930.
Soon afterwards in 1934, a second constitution was written and brought into effect.
Under the rule of Sultan Hassan Nooraddeen II, a third constitution was written and brought into effect. On 30 January 1940, the constitutional system was deemed unnecessary and was abolished; only to be reinitiated in 1942 (5th constitution). After another constitution change in 1951, the Maldives was declared a republic in 1953.
Under the rule of President Mohamed Ameen Didi, a new constitution (7th) was brought into effect. This constitution lasted only 8 months, when the republic was abolished and the country went back to a sultanate, under the rule of Sultan Muhammad Fareed Didi. This change introduced yet another constitution brought to effect on 7 March 1954. This was followed by a 9th constitution in 1964 and another in 1967.
Second Republic
After the second republic was declared, new president Ibrahim Nasir ratified a new constitution on 11 November 1968. This constitution was amended thrice, in 1970, 1972 and 1975 respectively.
Under the rule of President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom, a 12th constitution was introduced in 1998. The government proclaimed that this change was brought to encourage the people of the country to live in friendship, amity and co-operation, and to encourage good deeds and respect among one another and being just, and to live in equality and fraternity.
2008 Constitutional Reforms
Political and Constitutional reforms during the 2000s culminated in the ceremonial ratification of a new constitution on 7 August 2008.
Calls for political reform intensified in the early 2000s, particularly following civil unrest in Malé in September 2003 after the death of a detainee in prison. In 2004, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom announced a programme of political and constitutional reform that included the preparation of a new constitution, the expansion of democratic freedoms, the introduction of a directly elected presidency and a clearer separation of powers between the executive, legislature and judiciary.
A People's Special Majlis, functioning as a constitutional assembly, was convened in 2004 to draft the new constitution. Its membership included members of the existing People's Majlis, members appointed by the president, together with additional representatives elected for the constitutional process. The drafting process proved lengthy and politically contentious, with disagreements between government supporters and the emerging opposition over the distribution of state power, the independence of institutions and the form of government to be adopted. Political parties were formally permitted to register in 2005, allowing the constitutional negotiations increasingly to take place within a multiparty political environment.
One of the principal disagreements concerned whether the Maldives should retain a presidential system or adopt a parliamentary system. The question was submitted to a constitutional referendum on 18 August 2007, in which more than 60 per cent of voters supported retaining a presidential form of government. The result provided the Special Majlis with the basis on which to continue drafting the new Constitution.
The constitutional process nevertheless continued to experience delays and political disputes. The Special Majlis ultimately finalised the proposed Constitution at the end of June 2008 and submitted it to the president for ceremonial ratification. After seeking clarification from the assembly on several provisions, Gayoom ratified the new Constitution on 7 August 2008, replacing the Constitution of 1998. The current constitution is known by its short title, "Constitution of the Maldives, 2008".
The new Constitution substantially altered the institutional framework of the state. It provided for a clearer separation of powers, strengthened the legislative authority of the People's Majlis, established an expanded constitutional bill of rights and provided for an independent judiciary and a number of independent state institutions. It also introduced direct, multiparty presidential elections, reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 and limited a president elected under the new Constitution to two five-year terms.
The Constitution also required the first presidential election under the new system to be held in 2008. Six candidates contested the first round on 8 October, marking the country's first competitive multiparty presidential election. As no candidate obtained an absolute majority, a run-off was held later that month between Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed, which Nasheed won.
Elections
Maldives elects on national level a head of state, the president, and a legislature. The president is elected directly for a five-year term by the people.
The Assembly (Majlis) has 93 members. All members are elected directly for a term of five years from 93 single-member constituencies.
British military presence and Suvadive secession
Beginning in the 1950s, The United Kingdom obtained permission to reestablish its wartime RAF Gan airfield in the southernmost Addu Atoll, employing hundreds of locals. Maldives granted the British a 100-year lease on Gan that required them to pay £2,000 a year, as well as some 440,000 square metres on Hithadhoo for radio installations. This served as a staging post for British military flights to the Far East and Australia, replacing RAF Mauripur in Pakistan which had been relinquished in 1956.
In 1957, however, the new prime minister, Ibrahim Nasir, called for a review of the agreement in the interest of shortening the lease and increasing the annual payment, and announced a new tax on boats. But Nasir was challenged in 1959 by a local secessionist movement in the three southernmost atolls that benefited economically from the British presence on Gan. This group cut ties with the Maldives government and formed an independent state, the United Suvadive Republic with Abdullah Afeef as president and Hithadhoo as capital. The short-lived state (1959–63) had a combined population of 20,000 inhabitants scattered over Huvadu, Addu and Fua Mulaku. Afeef pleaded for support and recognition from Britain.
Instead the initial British measure of lukewarm support for the small breakaway nation was withdrawn in 1961, when the British signed a treaty with the Maldive Islands without involving Afeef. Following that treaty the Suvadives had to endure an economic embargo. In 1962, Nasir sent gunboats from Malé with government police on board to eliminate elements opposed to his rule. One year later the Suvadive republic was scrapped and Abdullah Afeef went into exile to the Seychelles, where he died in 1993.
Meanwhile, in 1960 the Maldives had allowed the United Kingdom to continue to use both the Gan and the Hitaddu facilities for a thirty-year period, with the payment of £750,000 over the period of 1960 to 1965 for the purpose of Maldives' economic development.
The base was closed in 1976 as part of the larger British withdrawal of permanently stationed forces 'East of Suez' initiated by the Labour government of Harold Wilson.
Independence
On 26 July 1965, the Maldives gained independence under an agreement signed with the United Kingdom. The independent monarchy of the Maldives declined to join the Commonwealth.
The British government retained the use of the Gan and Hitaddu facilities. In a national referendum in March 1968, Maldivians abolished the sultanate and established a republic, which was declared on 11 November 1968.
In line with the broader British policy of decolonisation on 26 July 1965 an agreement was signed on behalf of His Majesty the Sultan by Ibrahim Nasir Rannabandeyri Kilegefan, Prime Minister, and on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II by Sir Michael Walker, British Ambassador designate to the Maldive Islands, which ended the British responsibility for the defence and external affairs of the Maldives. The islands thus achieved full political independence, with the ceremony taking place at the British High Commissioner's Residence in Colombo. After this, the sultanate continued for another three years under Muhammad Fareed Didi, who declared himself King rather than Sultan.
On 15 November 1967, a vote was taken in parliament to decide whether the Maldives should continue as a constitutional monarchy or become a republic. Of the 44 members of parliament, forty voted in favour of a republic. On 15 March 1968, a national referendum was held on the question, and 81.23% of those taking part voted in favour of establishing a republic. The republic was declared on 11 November 1968, thus ending the 853-year-old monarchy, which was replaced by a republic under the presidency of Ibrahim Nasir, the former prime minister. As the King had held little real power, this was seen as a cosmetic change and required few alterations in the structures of government.
Nasir presidency
The Second Republic was proclaimed in November 1968 under the presidency of Ibrahim Nasir, who had increasingly dominated the political scene. Under the new constitution, Nasir was elected indirectly to a four-year presidential term by the Majlis (legislature) and his candidacy later ratified by referendum. He appointed Ahmed Zaki as the new prime minister.
In 1973, Nasir was elected to a second term under the constitution as amended in 1972, which extended the presidential term to five years and which also provided for the election of the prime minister by the Majlis. In March 1975, newly elected prime minister Zaki was arrested in a bloodless coup and was banished to a remote atoll. Observers suggested that Zaki was becoming too popular and hence posed a threat to the Nasir faction.