Maldives Politics

At independence in 1965, the country had retained its centuries old Sultanate, although the Sultan was subject to a written Constitution since 1932. Shortly after independence, the Maldives established the Second Republic in 1968, abolishing the Sultanate with a public referendum which voted in favour of a republic. However, just 14 years after the First Republic, which had lasted seven months, was violently overthrown. Although the country had faced a few abortive coups in the 1970s, power was transferred from President Ibrahim Nasir to President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom peacefully and through the electoral process.

Elections to the presidency, based on a parliamentary nomination and confirmation directly by the people, had been held regularly, as have parliamentary elections, based on dual member constituencies. A process of revising the Constitution was initiated in 1980, but was not completed until 1997, a period during which the Maldives had attained tremendous social and economic progress to qualify for graduation from the UN’s list of least developed countries. The period also saw the country complete the first and second phase of a demographic transition, in which the population growth rate had peaked at 3.4% in 1985 before declining to 1.9% in 2000. The population today has tripled since independence in 1965 and doubled since 1978.