President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has proposed allocating reserved seats in Parliament for youth and women.
Speaking at the Espresso With the President event, the President said youth and women are currently underrepresented in Parliament despite having opportunities to contest elections. He noted that representation is limited because they are often not selected through the existing mainstream political processes.
To address this limitation, the President suggested a 10 percent seat allocation for women and 10 percent for youth. While the proposal is currently under discussion, the President said he is seeking public views on the matter, especially of women and youth.
The President said he personally believes reserved representation is necessary for inclusion in governance. Explaining that youth make up 39 percent of voters and women make up 49 percent, the President said this supports the need for representation. He described the policy to designate seats as “positive discrimination” to improve participation.
Noting that the Parliament has 93 seats, the President said he does not intend to increase the number of parliamentarians. If 10 percent is allocated for both women, and youth, this would amount to nine seats each for women and youth under the age of 30.
The President suggested that if implemented, seats could be allocated through a fair method such as rotation or lottery to decide constituencies, similar to council elections which currently uses a rotation method to allocate seats to women.
The President said the proposal is not linked to the upcoming public referendum and would be pursued regardless of the referendum’s outcome.