Shahid: With amendments, President has Speaker in palm of his hand

With the rushed amendment on Wednesday to include anti-defection provisions in the Constitution, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla in the palm of his hand, says Abdulla Shahid, the president of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

In a press briefing by the MDP on Thursday, Shahid said that the People’s National Congress (PNC) administration’s actions go against all principles of democracy.

“As it happened, these amendments were brought just as the sun set and the Magrib prayer call was made. I imagine it wasn’t just yesterday’s sun that set. But that the sun set on Maldives’ democracy. This is what it signified,” he said.

Shahid said that President Muizzu had sent a clear message to the people; that he will do whatever whenever he wants.

He said that with the new constitutional amendment, the President Muizzu now has the power to control the other two branches of the government.

“If he [President Muizzu] suddenly decides that the Speaker of the Parliament is acting against party beliefs and expels him from the party, then Honorable Parliament Speaker Abdul Raheem will lose both his speakership and membership of the Parliament,” he said.

“…Speaker Abdul Raheem will not even have room for any questions. So, we are now seeing President put the Parliament’s Speaker in the palm of his hand and take complete control.”

He added that the constitutional amendments also subject parliamentarians to the risk of expulsion from their party and loss of their parliamentary seat if they violate the party’s whip-line if no-confidence motions are presented against the Chief Justice or other Supereme Court justices.

“Therefore, even the Supreme Court is now under the President’s complete control. This is not democracy,” he said.

The constitutional amendments were submitted, passed and ratified in quick succession on Wednesday, adding three more circumstances where parliamentarians will lose their seat. They are:

• If a parliamentarian resigns from or is dismissed or expelled from the party they were elected on behalf of
• If a parliamentarian switches parties or is dismissed or expelled from a party
• If an independent parliamentarian joins a party

The legislature was passed by the Parliament, of which the ruling PNC holds a supermajority, amid protests by parliamentarians from the MDP – who hold just a dozen seats in the 93-member Parliament.

MDP said they aren’t opposed to anti-defection provisions in principle. But they do not believe it should apply to parliamentarians who are expelled. They also object to the lack of extensive consultation and debate before making constitutional amendments.

Amendments proposed by the MDP to stipulate that parliamentarians expelled from their parties can only be removed after a public vote were rejected.

Anti-government protestors had also gathered outside the Parliament to demonstrate against the bill, and clashes erupted after they were confronted by pro-government protestors, before the police intervened and separated the two groups.

The passage of the bill had also come after the Bar Council asked the Parliament for a chance to consult on the legislature, citing that council members as well as the larger legal community had certain concerns regarding the bill.

However, Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla, the chairperson of the PNC, said that the bill did not require public consultation.