Supreme Court Clears Path for April 4 Constitutional Referendum

The Supreme Court has ruled there is no legal basis to stop the April 4 referendum on constitutional changes. The vote will determine whether the President should approve the Eighth Amendment, which proposes holding presidential and parliamentary elections on the same day. A five-judge bench delivered the unanimous judgment after a case was filed by lawyers Aik Ahmed Esa and Ibrahim Shiyam. The lawyers had argued that the referendum question was unconstitutional and sought to block the vote. Chief Justice Abdul Ghani Mohamed, delivering the judgment, stated that neither the Constitution nor existing laws contain specific provisions governing what questions can be included on a referendum ballot. The bench concluded the question could not be deemed unconstitutional and found no grounds to prevent the referendum from proceeding as scheduled. The ruling removes the final legal hurdle ahead of the public vote. The proposed constitutional amendment represents a significant potential shift in the nation's electoral calendar, consolidating two major national polls into a single event.