The president is elected for up to two five-year terms. Mohamed Muizzu, who was backed by the PNC and the PPM, defeated incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the MDP in the two-round September 2023 election. Muizzu, the mayor of Malé, won the runoff with 54 percent of the votes cast and took office in November. Former president Abdulla Yameen, who was the PPM’s preferred candidate earlier in the year, was barred from contesting the race by the Supreme Court in August due to his corruption and money-laundering convictions.

While the elections were efficiently and professionally conducted, a high number of invalid votes were cast; European Union (EU) election monitors reported that the instructions for ruling a ballot invalid were strict and noted that protest voting might have been an additional factor. Vote buying was commonly reported and disinformation was widely disseminated. Solih was also subjected to derogatory statements on the part of the opposition coalition.

The People’s Majlis, a unicameral legislature, has 87 statutory members elected from individual districts for five-year terms. In September 2023, the Elections Commission (EC) drew six new constituencies, bringing the total number of seats to be contested in the 2024 election to 93.

The April 2019 elections were largely transparent and competitive and saw fewer reports of vote buying compared to previous elections. The MDP secured a supermajority with 65 seats, while the PPM and the Republican Party each won 5. In December 2023, 12 MDP legislators and an independent joined the PNC, whose candidate won the September presidential election.

Members of the EC are appointed by the president with approval from the People’s Majlis. The EC’s administration of the September 2023 presidential election earned some praise from EU observers, who called the commission largely “impartial and efficient.” The observers also praised the EC’s voter-registration efforts, though the Democrats, PNC, and PPM voiced some criticism. The EU’s observers called the EC’s voter-education efforts and communications with the public lacking, though the EC’s interactions with the public and with political parties improved ahead of the second round, garnering more trust among Maldivians. New measures to address vote buying were introduced only days before the first round.

A June 2023 amendment to the Elections (General) Act introduced a tactile voting guide, enabling the blind and visually impaired to vote unassisted.

In September 2023, the People’s Majlis passed a resolution, originally introduced by the Democrats, to hold a public referendum on transitioning to a parliamentary system by the end of October. The party subsequently paused its efforts, postponing the referendum indefinitely.

Score Change: The score improved from 2 to 3 because of progress on election preparations and conduct, measures to promote inclusivity and participation, political acceptance of the official results, and overall public trust in the Maldivian electoral authority.

The environment for political parties improved under the Solih administration, with several new parties emerging over the past years. The Maldives National Party, registered in 2021, currently holds three legislative seats. In July 2023, a new political party, the Democrats, was officially registered. In May, its members, including then legislative speaker Mohamed Nasheed and then deputy speaker Eva Abdulla, had split from the MDP.

While the political landscape had featured some undemocratic activity, opposition parties and candidates have been able to gain power through elections. Recent opposition victories include those of President Muizzu in September 2023 and of the MDP in parliamentary elections in 2019. In recent years, the Maldives has seen a rise in smaller political parties. This led to a notable increase in the number of presidential candidates in 2023, along with three independents.

Parties can also benefit from legislators crossing the floor and joining other parties, as some MDP members did after the September election. In December, the MDP’s remaining legislators said they would consider reimplementing the Anti-Defection Act to stop this practice.

The Yameen government influenced state institutions and the EC to limit political choices through arrests and threats, though such abuses decreased under Solih. The 2023 presidential election was marked by claims of foreign influence; Solih was perceived as pro-India, while Muizzu leveraged anti-India sentiments and formed a coalition with the PPM, known for close relations with China. The PNC and PPM had objected to an Indian military presence in the Maldives during the campaign. After taking office, Muizzu called on the Indian government to remove its military personnel, though this had not been completed by year’s end.

The constitution and laws in the Maldives require all citizens to be Muslims and all candidates for elected office to follow Sunni Islam, effectively excluding followers of minority religions. High-level positions in state institutions and independent bodies, including the Human Rights Commission, also require individuals to be Sunni Muslims.

Women and LGBT+ individuals face societal discrimination and limited political participation. The 2021 local council elections allocated 33 percent seats to female candidates, for the first time. Female political representation remains low, however, with women only holding 5 percent of the national legislature’s seats as of December 2023.

Foreign workers, who make up a significant portion of the population, have no political rights and are restricted from participating in protests or strikes.

Elected officials are generally able to determine and implement government policies, though former president Yameen disrupted the legislature’s functioning in his attempts to retain the presidency in the 2018 election. The legislature was able to operate without similar obstructions after Solih’s 2018 inauguration and the 2019 legislative elections, but political tensions impacted the legislative branch’s ability to function in 2023. The legislature was affected by the defection of Democrats from the MDP, no-confidence motions against cabinet ministers, and no-confidence motions against the legislature’s speaker and deputy speaker, both of whom resigned before year’s end.

Corruption remains endemic at all levels of government. The absence of transparency and the impunity granted to those who engage in corrupt practices are seen as significant obstacles to eliminating corruption.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has been only moderately effective, often launching investigations and taking other actions in response to public complaints, but rarely holding powerful figures to account for abuses. Whistleblowers and journalists reporting on corruption have been jailed or forced into exile over their activities. The Presidential Commission on Corruption and Asset Recovery, formed by presidential decree in 2018 to investigate misuse of state funds, made little progress during its existence.

The Solih administration tackled corruption by introducing a whistleblower web portal and legal safeguards for whistleblowers. Despite former president Yameen’s 2019 money-laundering conviction being overturned by the Supreme Court in 2021, he was convicted of money laundering and bribery in a separate case in 2022, resulting in an 11-year prison sentence. Yameen was placed in house arrest in October 2023.

State contracts for projects are often awarded through unclear processes that are allegedly affected by bribery. The Solih administration initially maintained the previous government’s opaque public-finance rules. From 2019, Solih and his cabinet publicly disclosed their finances, though Transparency International expressed concerns about their accuracy and consistency.

The Right to Information Act has been effective in forcing government institutions to make information and processes more transparent, with the government becoming somewhat more proactive in disclosing information and implementing the law. In a report released in March 2023, however, the Association for Democracy in the Maldives noted that proactive disclosure on the part of the government was still lacking and information was sometimes provided under an especially long timeline.

Score Change: The score improved from 1 to 2 because of proactive disclosures and the somewhat increased accessibility of information from state institutions.

The constitution guarantees freedom of expression, with the caveat that it must not be contrary to any tenet of Islam, a vague condition that can encourage self-censorship in the media. Under the 2022 Evidence Act, journalists can be held in contempt and subject to fines or jail time if they refuse to disclose their sources. The government, through sponsorships provided via state-owned enterprises, maintains significant influence over the media sector, as do business leaders and politicians who fund outlets.

Many journalists receive threatening messages delivered through anonymous social media accounts purportedly connected to government officials and extremist groups. Some have also faced digital attacks, including hacking and phishing. The spread of misinformation and disinformation remains unregulated.

Journalists were physically attacked by police while covering opposition protests in Malé in February and in July. In March, police arrested journalist Hussain Juman while he was covering a PPM rally in the capital, though he was released without charge.

In December 2023, after Muizzu had won the presidential election, the government implemented a ban on online pornography. Later that month, the Communications Authority of Maldives blocked access to two news sites after they published articles critical of the government, while a third was blocked by local internet service providers. Journalist groups denounced the restrictions, all of which were rescinded by the end of the month.

Religious freedom is heavily restricted in the Maldives. Islam is the state religion, and the constitution allows for limitations on rights and freedoms to protect Islam. Other laws criminalize criticism of the religion, and a license is required for preaching in public. The government and people are required to protect religious unity, and imams must use government-approved sermons. Non-Muslim foreigners are only permitted to observe their religions privately.

Secularist writers and advocates for freedom of conscience have faced death threats from violent groups. According to a survey of journalists conducted by the Maldives Journalists Association and released in 2021, 37 percent of the 70 local journalists who participated reported being threatened by radicalized or violent extremist individuals.

Islam is a compulsory subject in schools and is incorporated into all other subject areas. School and university curriculums have come under increased influence from hard-line religious leaders, resulting in some content that denounces democratic principles. Academics and teachers who express views deemed objectionable by state and nonstate actors risk punishment or reprisals. In April 2023, the government reversed its ban on public school teachers wearing the niqab while teaching.

President Muizzu’s manifesto includes a pledge to introduce a specialized program “to inculcate love for and appreciation of Islam and national identity, history and culture in schools.”

Individuals who advocate for minority groups or basic freedoms were at risk of attack from violent nonstate actors during the Solih administration. Local human rights groups have had to relocate social media users who received death threats for exercising their freedom of expression. Maldivian women, especially those in politics, face online abuse and harassment.

Respect for freedom of assembly is uneven. A 2016 law requires protest organizers to obtain police permission for their events and restricts demonstrations to certain designated areas.

Maldivian authorities used force against protesters in 2023. In May, a demonstrator protesting the presence of Indian military personnel in the Maldives was forcefully detained by police. In June, PNC member and former defense minister Adam Shareef was arrested while attending a protest; the PNC and PPM later accused police of using pepper spray and attacking protesters at that event. However, some large assemblies were allowed to occur with fewer restrictions and without authorization, including pro-Palestinian rallies.

Score Change: The score improved from 2 to 3 because there were few practical restrictions on peaceful protests during the year and highly controversial protests proceeded without prior authorization, though authorities used force during opposition rallies.

Maldivian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), operating with limited resources and access to information, face harassment and threats. Human rights groups, journalists, and bloggers, especially those advocating for women’s and LGBT+ rights, are often targeted with surveillance, harassment, lawsuits, threats of violence, and blasphemy allegations by extremists.

Human rights advocates can be affected by the wide-ranging Anti-Terrorism Act, which has broad restrictions on speech deemed to relate to terrorism. The 2022 Associations Act includes financial disclosure requirements as well as provisions for a certain amount of state funding to be directed to NGOs. Most registered associations are related to sports, however.

In March 2023, a court upheld a government decision to deregister the Maldivian Democracy Network, which had published a report on extremism in 2015. The government originally deregistered the group in 2019 after the Ministry of Islamic Affairs received a complaint about the NGO.

The constitution and labor laws allow workers to form trade unions, and several unions are active. However, collective bargaining is not protected under the law, and strikes are prohibited in many sectors, including the crucial tourism industry. However, the Teachers Association of the Maldives, the largest such teachers’ group, won a major salary increase of in 2022 and other labor groups have negotiated better working arrangements and trade opportunities in the tourism and fishing industries.

The Supreme Court has intervened in political affairs in the past, acting according to political interests. While significant strides have been made to reinforce basic principles of autonomy, quality, and accountability, the administration of justice remains inefficient.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which makes judicial appointments for most courts and investigates complaints lodged against judges, is widely considered to be compromised because its members hold political affiliations. However, the JSC has also held judges accused of corruption to account.

In 2019, the government appointed the first two women to the Supreme Court, despite Islamist objections. In 2020, a woman was appointed to the Criminal Court bench for the first time in the country’s history.

Due process rights are not well enforced in practice. Under previous governments, opposition figures were subjected to deeply flawed trials on politically motivated charges.

Pretrial detention is common, accounting for nearly 30 percent of those currently held in detention facilities in the country. Many are held in pretrial detention for inordinately long periods due to delays in investigation and trial processes. The Maldives also imposes imprisonment for nonpayment of debt through contempt-of-court rulings.

Flogging and other forms of corporal punishment are authorized for some crimes, and flogging sentences have been issued in practice for offenses such as extramarital sex. Prisons are overcrowded, inmates have reported lack of proper access to medical care, and human rights groups have reported numerous unexplained deaths in custody. Noncustodial measures present in the penal code are rarely implemented.

Maldivians have been at risk of extremist violence, with several terrorist attacks occurring in recent years. In July 2023, the US Treasury Department sanctioned 20 operatives affiliated with the Islamic State (IS), Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K), and al-Qaeda militant groups in the Maldives, along with 29 companies associated with those individuals.

Gender-based discrimination in employment is prohibited by law, but women continue to face discrimination in practice. Girls and women from underprivileged backgrounds are disproportionately affected by penalties for crimes like fornication and adultery, which are sourced from an interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law).

Migrant workers, who account for approximately a third of the population, encounter disparate treatment by state authorities and have difficulty accessing justice.

Same-sex sexual acts and marriage are prohibited by law and can draw prison sentences, corporal punishment, and even threats of citizenship revocation. As a result, LGBT+ people rarely report societal discrimination or abuse.

Freedom of movement is legally provided for but is somewhat restricted in practice. Migrant workers are subject to constraints on their movement and often have their passports retained by employers, even though the practice is illegal.

Property rights are limited, with most land owned by the government and leased to private entities or commercial developers through what is often an opaque process. Residents sometimes face displacement by development projects without adequate consultation or compensation. The Solih administration’s allocation of free land plots in the Greater Malé region in 2022 and 2023 sparked criticism, as some recipients already owned significant plots of land, were in the legislature, or were foreigners.

Among other rules on marriage and divorce, women citizens are barred from marrying non-Muslim foreigners, while male citizens can marry non-Muslim foreigners only if they are Christian or Jewish. Divorce is a grueling process for women and can take months depending on the agreeability of the spouse. Extramarital sex is criminalized, and there is a high legal threshold to prove rape allegations. The National Standards for Family Planning Services requires written spousal consent for surgical sterilization, for both women and men.

Those experiencing domestic violence can receive protection orders, but both domestic violence and sexual offense cases often go unreported due to a lack of trust in institutions, delays in justice, and social norms, with Maldivians often viewing sexual violence as a private concern.

The legal framework provides some protections against worker exploitation, including rules on working hours and bans on forced labor. However, migrant workers are especially vulnerable to abuses like debt bondage and the withholding of wages. Women and children working in domestic service may also be subject to exploitative conditions. The Occupational Safety and Health Act, which could enhance labor rights and workplace safety, was passed by the legislature in December 2023 and sent to the president for his approval.