The second democracy survey, ATroubled Future for
Democracy conducted by Transparency Maldives
in 2015 concluded that most respondents (62.0%)
believed that despite problems, democracy is
the best form of governance for the Maldives4.
The study also manifested strong support for
democracy with 77.0% of the respondents agreeing
that a democratic form of government is good for
the country. Nevertheless, the study also found
that half of the respondents were not satisfied
with how democracy functions in the country. The
finding resonates with the results of this survey.
A significant number of people agreed (85.7%)
that it is very important to have knowledge about
the rights and freedoms guaranteed under chapter
two of the constitution. This view holds merit
across sexes, geography and nature of local island/
atoll/municipal administration without significant
variation. However only 20.2% of the respondents
reported having read the second chapter of the
constitution, with 78.1% saying that they have
not. However, there is an increase in the number
of respondents claiming to have read the chapter
on rights in comparison to 2011 (11.2%). Yet, there
seems to be a slight increase in those who have
not read the chapter on rights from that of 2011
(76.1%). More men (23.2%) than women (18.4%)
continue to report having read the constitutional
chapter on rights.
the number of respondents who thought the
democratic process has been successful to some
extent, up from 13.4% in 2011 to 18.1% in 2019.
Men were found to be slightly more satisfied
with the reform (38.0%) than women (28.1%).
It is also interesting to note that more
respondents from urban regions thought
that the democratic reform process has been
successful, while it was mostly those living in
the outer islands who did not agree with this
assertion.
Table 8: Success from democratic reform, by region
Yes
No
Partly
RF
DK/NA
Urban
39.34%
22.75%
22.75%
1.90%
13.27%
Outer
Islands
26.51%
33.87%
15.17%
1.62%
22.83%
Total
31.43%
29.61%
18.07%
1.73%
19.16%
Respondents who did not consider reform
to have been a success were then asked to
share what they considered to be the negative
aspects of the democratic reform process.
Corruption (21.0%) and lack of trust between
political parties (20.0%) were named as the
leading attributes that have rendered the
process unsuccessful. Details of factors named
by respondents are illustrated below.
Table 9: Reasons democratic reforms have not been successful or only
partly successful, by gender
Table 7: Have read rights chapter in constitution, by gender
Yes
No
RF
DK/NA
Factors
Male
23.18%
57.29%
2.08%
17.45%
Mistrust among political parties
19.31%
20.29%
19.98%
Female
18.37%
65.50%
1.54%
14.59%
Ineffective Majlis
13.90%
11.70%
12.33%
Total
20.16%
62.49%
1.73%
15.62%
Ineffective politicians
9.65%
7.68%
8.38%
Lack of understanding about
democracy by the public
7.34%
6.03%
6.54%
The survey asked the respondents about their view
on whether the government should provide a copy
of the constitution to each household. Overall,
77.6% (80.8% in 2011) of those respondents agreed
with the proposition with only 13.7% (9.1% in 2011)
disagreeing.
Insufficient resources allocated
for democratic strengthening
5.02%
4.02%
4.32%
Government/executive
influence/ Interference with
Majlis or judiciary
6.56%
4.20%
4.93%
Corruption
22.01%
20.66%
20.96%
Other
7.72%
8.23%
8.01%
RF
0.77%
0.18%
0.49%
This survey also examined people’s views on
the success of the democratic reform process.
No significant difference was found between
respondents who thought the democratic process
was successful (31.o %) compared to those who
thought it was not (30.0%). A similar trend was also
observed in 2011 without any significant changes
in 2019. However, there was a slight increase in
DK/NA
7.72%
17.00%
14.06%
4
http://transparency.mv/files/media/6dca8a9f7beda482335bb654b88020f7.pdf
22
Male
Female
Total