A senior cabinet minister on Thursday warned the newly elected city councilors to cooperate with development projects or the government would be forced to abolish councils in the cities.
The ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) had suffered an embarrassing defeat in last Saturday's local council elections managing only a solitary seat out of the 22 across three city councils.
Speaking during a program on government aligned Channel 13, minister at the president's office Ahmed Zuhoor said despite losing the city councils to the opposition, the government was obligated to continue development projects.
If the councils refuse to cooperate with the government efforts, the councils can be abolished through the parliament, Zuhoor who is the chair of the national economic and youth council warned.
"You don't get elected as a councilor on personal merit. They've been entrusted with huge responsibilities by the people. So it's their duty to bring development to their respective cities. If the government doesn't get the cooperation needed, it must forge a path to a way it can be done. If one road closes another one will be forged. We have the option of abolishing the city councils through the parliament if it comes to that," Zuhoor insisted.
The minister also noted the fading popularity of the councils among the people which he said was signified by the low voter turnout especially in the cities.
A total of 1,487 candidates had contested the elections for 664 seats including 563 councilors to 179 island councils, 67 councilors to 18 atoll councils and 23 councilors to three city councils.
Though 255,987 Maldivians were eligible to vote, voter turnout was reportedly much lower than expected despite the elections commission extending voting by two hours.
Main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) backed by the united opposition had secured more than half the seats including the constituencies with the largest populations.
