The politics of the Maldives take place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is the Head of Government. Executive power is exercised by the government. The President heads the executive branch and appoints the Cabinet; like many presidential democracies, each member of the cabinet need to be approved by the Parliament. The President, along with their pick for vice president, is directly elected by the denizens to a five-year term by a secret ballot. Once in office, they could be re-elected to a second 5-year term, which is the limit allowed by the Constitution. The current President of the Maldives is Mohamed Muizzu, when his predecessor, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih lost the 2023 Maldivian presidential election. Nasheed reportedly resigned involuntarily to forestall an escalation of violence, and was placed in jail, before being forced into exile, from which he eventually returned.
The Maldives has remained an independent nation throughout its recorded history, save for a brief spell of Portuguese occupation in the mid-16th century. From 1887 to 1965, the country was a British protectorate while retaining full internal sovereignty. At its independence in 1965, the Maldives joined the United Nations on 20 September.
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is an Islamic Scholar and a Maldivian politician who served as President of the Maldives from 1978 to 2008. After serving as transport minister, he was nominated president by the People's Majlis and succeeded Ibrahim Nasir in 1978. He was defeated in 2008 during the first Presidential Elections after democratic reforms in the Maldives. He holds the nations highest award, "The Most Honourable Order of Distinguished Rule of Ghaazee", presented to him in 2013. Maumoon was the longest-serving president in Asia.
Fathulla Jameel was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives from 1978 to 2005.
Majeediyya School is the first Maldivian government school, located in Malé, Maldives. It only accepted boys until the introduction of Primary Education in 2010, which allowed girls to attend the school as well. The English medium is followed throughout all subjects, with the exception of Dhivehi and Islam.
The People's Majlis is the unicameral legislative body of Maldives. The Majlis has the authority to enact, amend and revise laws, as outlined in the Constitution of the Maldives. The Majlis is composed of 87 members as of 2019. The number was reduced to 80 as of 18th December 2023 since some former members of the ruling PPM-PNC coalition are appointed to the government's posts. However, the government has appealed this in the Supreme Court on 30th January 2024, and on 5th February 2024, the court ruled in favor of the government, hence reverting the number to 87 members.
Ahmed Shaheed is a Maldivian diplomat, politician and professor. On 24 March 2016, he was appointed for the sixth year running as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Shaheed is also the Chairperson of the Geneva-based international human rights think-tank, Universal Rights Group, which was launched in January 2014. He now lives in England, as Visiting Professor of Human Rights Practice at the University of Essex.
The Ministry of External Affairs of India is the government agency responsible for implementing Indian foreign policy. The Ministry of External Affairs is headed by the Minister of External Affairs, a Cabinet Minister. The Foreign Secretary, an Indian Foreign Service officer, is the most senior civil servant who is the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry represents the Government of India through embassies and is also responsible for India's representation at the United Nations and other international organizations and expanding and safeguarding India's influence and Indian interests across the world by providing developmental aid to other countries worth billions of dollars. It also advises other Ministries and State Governments on foreign governments and institutions.
New Maldives began as a group of young ministers who supported the dictatorship of President Gayoom and claimed to be working to usher in liberal democracy to the Maldives. Its most public proponent is Ahmed Shaheed, supported by Hassan Saeed and Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, who were serving as Foreign Minister, Attorney-General and Justice Minister, respectively. The New Maldives was launched in December 2005 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and was initially used by the media as a pejorative term.
Mohamed Jameel Ahmed is a Maldivian lawyer and politician who was Vice President of the Maldives from 2013 to 2015. He previously served as Minister of Justice from July 2005 to August 2007, as Minister of Civil Aviation and Communication from November 2008 to May 2009 and as Minister of Home Affairs from February 2012 to May 2013. He was once a member of the New Maldives group. In 2015, he was impeached by the parliament and removed from office.
The vice president of the Republic of Maldives is the second-highest official in the executive branch of the government of the Maldives, after the president of the Maldives, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is directly elected together with the president to a five-year term of office.
Maldives–Pakistan relations are the foreign relations between Pakistan and the Maldives.
Israel–Maldives relations refer to foreign relations between Israel and the Maldives. The countries had diplomatic relations from 1965 to 1974. From 2012 to 2017, they maintained cooperation agreements, but did not restore full diplomatic relations.
The Cabinet of the Maldives is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of the Maldives. It is made up of the President, the Vice President, Attorney General and the Ministers.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the ministry responsible for handling the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's external relations. The ministry oversees "political, cultural and financial international relations" and monitors the Kingdom's diplomatic relations. It was created in 1930 by a royal decree issued by King Abdulaziz Al Saud, being the first ministerial body created by the King.
Presidential elections were held in the Maldives on Sunday, 23 September 2018. Incumbent president Abdulla Yameen of the Progressive Party of Maldives was seeking re-election for a second five-year term. His only challenger was Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party, who was nominated as the joint candidate of a coalition of opposition parties.
The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Maldives is the ministry responsible for managing the public finances of the Maldives.
Dr Mohamed Muizzu is a Maldivian politician who is the 9th and current president of the Maldives since 2023. He previously served as Housing Minister and was the Mayor of Malé from 2021 until his resignation in 2023.
Maldives–Palestine relations refer to foreign relations between the Maldives and the State of Palestine. The Maldives supports an independent Palestine.
Mohamed Muizzu's tenure as the 9th President of the Maldives began with his inauguration on 17 November 2023. Muizzu, a People's National Congress politician who previously served as Housing Minister for two terms under president Mohamed Waheed Hassan and Abdulla Yameen. Muizzu was the Mayor of Malé from 2021 until his resignation in 2023.
