President of the Republic Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has decided to relocate the residents of Hirimaradhu in Thiladhunmathi South to Hanimaadhoo in the same atoll, and has amended Presidential Decree Number 2/2025 (Determination of Inhabited Islands in the Maldives).

The purpose of this amendment is to facilitate the recognition of Hanimaadhoo in the atoll as the electoral constituency for Hirimaradhu residents, since the date of the Local Council Elections and Women’s Development Committee Elections scheduled by the Elections Commission for April 4, 2026, falls within the timeframe during which the government is working on relocating Hirimaradhu residents to Hanimaadhoo in the atoll. This is in accordance with Article 8(a) of Law Number 2008/11 (General Elections Law), which states that when the Elections Commission compiles the register of persons entitled to vote, if the government designates any inhabited island as an uninhabited island and relocates its residents to another island, the Elections Commission shall consider the electoral constituency of those relocated residents to be the island to which they have been newly relocated.

Accordingly, with Decree Number 36/2025 issued by the President today, under the authority granted to the President by Article 134(h) of the Decentralization Act, it has been decided that upon completion of the settlement and registration of Hirimaradhu residents in Hanimaadhoo in the atoll, Thiladhunmathi South Hirimaradhu shall be designated as an uninhabited island. Presidential Decree Number 2/2025 (Determination of Inhabited Islands in the Maldives) has been amended by removing Thiladhunmathi South Hirimaradhu from the list of inhabited islands in the Maldives contained in the decree’s schedule, updating the list, and including it as the decree’s schedule.

This amendment shall come into effect from the date the government publicly announces the completion of settlement and registration of Hirimaradhu residents in Hanimaadhoo in the atoll.