State requests SC to declare that existing political parties would not face dissolution

The State has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to declare that the political parties that existed when the Political Parties Act came into force will maintain their legal status and that they will not be dissolved.

The State made the motion today during a hearing of a case currently being contested in court by the State regarding a number of issues concerning the Political Parties Act.

Speaking at today’s hearing, Deputy Solicitor General of the Attorney General’s Office Ahmed Usham said that the Political Parties Act currently does not stipulate a manner to deal with the political parties that do not have 10,000 registered members, and said that Article 8 (b) of the Act however states that all parties that do not have a membership count of 10,000 will face dissolution.

When Judge Adam Mohamed Abdulla asked how he proposes to solve the issue, Usham said that, reflecting on the way in which the legislation has been assembled, the solution for the issue would be to invalidate Article 8 (b) of the Political Parties Act.

Shaheen Hameed, a member of the team of lawyers representing the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) which had intervened on the case, said that the solution for the matter is, if not invalidate Article 8 (b), to prohibit it.

Shaheen Hameed also requested the court to invalidate Article 11 of the Political Parties Act, which makes it mandatory for a party to have a minimum of 10,000 members for them to be registered as a political party. Shaheen argued that Article 11 of the Act contradicts with Article 30 of the Constitution.

Maumoon Hameed, also a member of the team of lawyers representing MDA, said that the Constitution guarantees that every citizen shall have the right to establish and participate in the activities of political parties. He said that it is the responsibility of the state to safeguard this right and to ensure that this is granted to all citizens.

Maumoon said that MDA had come into existence under the previous legislation on political parties and that the party had submitted membership forms in excess of 10,000 to be approved by the elections commission before the current Political Parties Act took effect. He argued that the protection provided by the law is a guaranteed right stipulated in the constitution and that MDA and its members are also entitled to that right.

Deputy Solicitor General Usham said that the Act does not allow an opportunity for the existing political parties to bring their membership up to 10,000, and said that this would result in the infringement of the rights of the members of those political parties as well the employees of those parties. He also noted that it will be an infringement of the rights of groups and parties that had had legal correspondences with those political parties.

“For example, while the political parties had made a number of civil correspondences, and while the legislature states that the political parties that do not reach 10,000 members will be dissolved, the legislation does not specify what will happen to such correspondences,” said Usham.

Today’s hearing was also attended by MDA Interim Deputy Leaders, Ali Mauroof and Kudahuvadhoo MP Ahmed Amir.

MP Amir shared information with the judges, and asked them to conclude the matter as soon as possible.

Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz Hussain did not add any comment to the matter before declaring to close today’s session of the trial.