Implementation of Article 25 of Parliament Rules of Procedure postponed

Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Shahid has made the decision to postpone the response to presidential address as required by Article 25 of the parliament rules of procedure, indicating Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s refusal to make use of the opportunity accorded to the party to respond to the presidential address.

Implementation of Article 25 is postponed until the Parliament’s General Committee completes assessment of the issue.

Commencing today’s parliament session, Shahid said that Article 25 of parliament rules of procedure states that following the delivery of the presidential address, the party with most members other than the one represented by the President (majority leader or minority leader) must prepare and deliver a response to the presidential address, and MDP had been informed of their obligation to do so.

MDP had responded by saying that this year’s presidential address does not require a response from MDP.

“They have indicated that this year’s presidential address does not require a response from MDP Parliamentary Group. I accept the party’s refusal to make use of the opportunity accorded to them by Article 25 of parliament rules of procedure,” Shahid said.

Shahid said that implementation of Article 25 is postponed because the rules stipulate that all parties other than the President’s party must contribute to the response to the presidential address, however this poses a problem as the current President’s party is not represented in the parliament.

“As Article 25 of the parliament rules of procedure state that all parties other than the one represented by the President must contribute to the response to the presidential address, but the current President’s party is not represented in the parliament; implementation of article 25 is postponed until the Parliament’s General Committee completes assessment of the issue and inform me of their decision,” Shahid said.

Following the announcement of this decision, MDP Parliamentary Group Leader and Hinnavaru MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (Ibu) took a point of order and expressed that he does not believe that the current leader of Maldives is legitimate. MDP is therefore not obligated to response to the presidential address.

“I refused to respond to it because I was being asked to do something that the law does not require me to do. I don’t believe that the current leader of the country is legitimate. If there is a legitimate leader, he belongs to MDP. So MDP should not be required to respond to the presidential address,” Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said.