The 2018–23 administration of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih made efforts to revise antidemocratic laws and establish transitional justice mechanisms. Subsequent elections have been efficiently run but have been affected by allegations of vote buying and other irregularities. Many basic freedoms remain restricted. Maldivian journalism is impacted by restrictive legislation, harassment, and the influence of state-owned entities, which are an indirect source of funding.

• Parliamentary elections were held in April. President Mohamed Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) won 66 of 93 seats in the Majlis, a supermajority, with the former ruling party, former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), retaining only 12 seats. Local election observers raised concerns about abuse of state resources, vote buying, and barriers to women’s participation.
• In November, the ruling PNC, in the course of less than a day, pushed through a package of constitutional amendments. The new rules stipulated that lawmakers would lose their seats upon switching parties, and granted the president sole authority to formulate national development plans. Local rights groups and the opposition criticized the amendments as having been adopted without public consultation or adequate parliamentary debate and as constraining lawmakers’ independence. Opposition parties launched a legal challenge against the changes.
• In June, President Muizzu dissolved the Presidential Commission on Deaths and Disappearances (DDCom), established by President Solih in 2018. Despite assistance from international policing agencies, the commission reached no clear resolution in the cases of the 2012 murder of lawmaker Afrasheem Ali, the 2014 disappearance of journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, and the 2017 murder of blogger Yameen Rasheed.
• In January, President Muizzu ratified the Industrial Relations Act, which had been approved by lawmakers in late 2023. The law codified key worker protections such as the right to bargain collectively and the right to freedom of assembly and association, and improved standards for workplace safety and compensation.

This report has been abridged for Freedom in the World 2025 due to ongoing budget constraints. Freedom in the World is entirely funded by nongovernmental sources such as private foundations, corporations, and individuals like you. Please consider making a donation to support future editions of this vital resource.

For additional background information, see last year’s full report.