Parliament greenlights Shakeel for appointment as head of Elections Commission

The Parliament has approved Mohamed Shakeel for appointment as the president of the Elections Commission (EC), mere days after he was reappointment to the body in charge of managing the electioneering process of the country.

Shakeel, a former member of the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC)’s senate, was appointed as a member of the EC on June 24. President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu sent a letter to the Parliament on Sunday, seeking approval to have him appointed as the head of the commission. The Independent Institutions Committee greenlighted the appointment on Monday.

He secured the backing of the Parliament with a majority vote of 51-8 on Tuesday afternoon.

Shakeel was appointed to fill the seat that got vacated after the commission’s former president Mohamed Zahid resigned from the role and left the commission in May.

Shakeel, who was serving as the managing director of the Maldives Hajj Corporation at the time, was subsequently nominated to fill the vacant seat by President Muizzu.

After the Parliament greenlighted his appointment on June 23, Shakeel resigned from the Hajj Corporation, as well as the PNC, where he served as a member of the party’s senate as well as the party’s elections committee.

Shakeel is not new to the EC, having served as a member of the commission back during former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s administration.

He was questioned regarding his earlier resignation from the EC during his interview with the Parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee last week.

Shakeel responded that he had heard some talk within the commission which he found unacceptable and made him believe that he could not work independently.

“I would resign if the same situation were to rise again,” he said.

Shakeel, who had previously worked as a director-general at the Bank of Maldives (BML) and later at the EC, was originally appointed as a member of the commission on December 3, 2014. But he resigned on May 9, 2018, ahead of that year’s presidential elections.

Zahid’s resignation from the EC on May 1 came with more than three years left in his term.

He provided no explanation for the decision, which came in the wake of the PNC’s heavy defeat in the local council elections and referendum held on April 4.