New Delhi: In a stinging mid-term verdict, Maldivian voters on Saturday (April 4) overwhelmingly rejected the Mohamed Muizzu government’s proposed constitutional amendment to hold presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously, while the opposition won more contested seats in the local council elections.Three years ago, Muizzu won the presidential elections with a strong mandate. A year later, the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) won a supermajority in the 2024 parliamentary elections with 66 out of 93 seats. Against that backdrop, Saturday’s outcome marks a clear political reversal.The exercise was described as the “most complex election day” in the Maldives’ modern democratic history, with voters casting ballots for local island and city councils, women’s development committees and a constitutional referendum. Depending on their location, voters cast between five and 11 separate votes.Despite the complexity, turnout reached a record 73% on Saturday. The Maldives has already held local elections five times since the introduction of multiparty democracy in 2008.According to provisional results announced on Sunday, 68.54% of voters rejected the referendum question.In February, the People’s Majlis (parliament) had passed the constitutional amendment Bill with 72 votes in favour, despite opposition protests. The proposal sought to shorten the parliamentary term and align it with the presidential cycle. The government argued this would reduce public expenditure, while the opposition said it would strengthen the ruling party’s control over parliament.Under the Maldives’ constitution, a referendum is required for such changes before the president can ratify them. With Saturday’s result, the Bill is now dead.In the local elections, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) retained the mayor’s seat in all five cities of the island nation with substantial margins. In those five cities, which account for more than half of the country’s population, the ruling PNC won just 11% of total city council seats.Overall, the MDP won 246 seats across various categories, against 218 for the ruling PNC.The results also come against the backdrop of mounting economic stress. Tourism, the Maldives’ biggest foreign exchange earner, saw a 23% in arrivals in the first half of March due to flight cancellations caused by the conflict in the Gulf, which is the main transit point for Western tourists.Analysts and party figures said the referendum effectively became a broader verdict on the government. According to a column in the Dhauru news outlet, the vote marked the “first time that citizens directly voiced their opinion to defend the Constitution in such a manner”, as past amendments were handled solely through parliament. The outlet also reported that even PNC supporters must have voted against the proposal.An analysis by Miharu cited internal unease within the ruling party over holding the referendum alongside local elections, with one party official saying “that this turned into a yes-or-no vote on the government itself”.In a concessionary tweet, Muizzu accepted “with respect” the results of the elections. He wrote that he will “carry forward the work needed to address issues that require improvement, in line with the will of the people”.Former President Ibrahim Solih, whose re-election Muizzu had blocked, wrote that what the Maldivians have said “today is that the government must change the direction it is taking”.“What the government must do without delay is listen to the people and bring changes to its policies in line with what the people want,” he stated.Mohamed Nasheed, who had stood against Muizzu and Solih in the 2023 presidential elections, said that the “MDP has achieved a major victory by decisively defeating the government”. The former president returned to the MDP last year.