Umar: Current political system caters only to serving needs of parties

The political system that currently exists in the Maldives caters only to serving the needs of political parties, says former home minister Umar Naseer.

In an appearance on SSTV’s ‘Baaru Hathareh’ show, Umar said that the current system of governance established by political parties serves only the parties itself, and is ineffective.

“The system operates to have their people appointed to various posts, and to accommodate their scheming. This system is big and fat, like a large breadfruit tree. But it fails to effectively deliver anything,” he said.

Umar also expressed concern over the size of the Parliament, which, under the Maldivian Constitution, is tied to the population.

The Constitution dictates that two parliamentary representatives must be elected for the first 5,000 residents of an administrative division, and additional seats assigned for each subsequent 5,000 constituents.

Umar noted that the Parliament currently has 93 seats, and this number will likely exceed 100 when the time comes to elect the next parliamentary assembly.

He believes that both the Parliament and councils need to be downsized.

“What’s even more ridiculous is that all parties agree that this is not right. But they never rectify this. Political parties have ruled the country while enjoying a supermajority at the Parliament,” he said.

“These parties have said the Parliament is too large. But one of them have changed this. These same parties have said that the number of councilors is too high. But they haven’t changed that either,” he said.

 The multi-party system in the Maldives was legally introduced in 2005, when the Parliament unanimously voted to allow political parties to form and contest elections. This historic transition culminated in the adoption of a new constitution in 2008, paving the way for the country’s first democratic, multi-candidate presidential elections.