Supreme Court ruling: Parliamentarians will lose seat if they switch party

Supreme Court of the Maldives have passed a ruling stating that starting today, MPs who switch their political party will lose their seat at the parliament.

The ruling was made with the unanimous vote of the three judges presiding in the case.

The judges on the bench were Chief Justice, Abdulla Saeed, Judge Adam Mohamed Abdulla and Judge Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi.

Effective from today, MPs who are dismissed, leave or switch from their political party to another will lose their seat at the parliament. And the departure from the party will be confirmed by the Elections Commission.

The ruling said that it would be in effect until the parliament passes an Anti-Defection bill.

The decision has come after the Attorney General Mohamed Anil filed a jurisdictional case with Supreme Court requesting that seats of parliamentarians won as candidates of a particular party be taken away if the parliamentarians switch parties.

Attorney General requested to pass a ruling by seizing Article 26-C, 30-A 74 and 75 of the Constitution.

Reading the verdict, the Chief Justice, Abdulla Saeed said that the Supreme Court believes that granting a solution to the jurisdictional case filed by the Attorney General serves the purpose of maintaining peace in the country.

He said that changing political parties is something that causes the people to lose trust in democracy and some countries have made laws as a solution to the problem.

And so in India has an Anti-Defection law and their Supreme Court has ruled the law as legitimate according to the Chief Justice and noted that advanced democracies also have similar laws.

The Chief Justice said that some European countries do not have the law because changing political parties are unlikely in those country and if an MP does so, they resign on their own and run in the by-election.