Parliament Speaker and President of the main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Mohamed Nasheed has submitted a motion to the party's congress, seeking a vote on changing the Maldives' governance system and bringing about constitutional changes if the Parliament approves such a change.
The motion was moved by Nasheed with the support of MDP's Vice-President, Mohamed Shifaz. The resolution proposed that the head of government should be the prime minister, who attains a parliament majority. It proposed that the head of state should be the president and that the candidate who receives the most votes in the Presidential Election must be appointed as president.
The motion further proposes to determine the powers of the supreme head of state, the powers and responsibilities of a president when a prime minister runs the government, the representation of constituencies in Parliament, and the policy on inclusion of members on the 'National List' based on the percentage of votes received by political parties. It also proposed that the total number of members of the Parliament should not exceed 87, that the government should be run by a cabinet of ministers from among parliament members, and that the number of judges of the Supreme Court should be five.
Nasheed's resolution also proposes changes to the composition of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and to include the constitutional characteristics of decentralization of administrative areas in the Constitution. He also called for a vote to change the system of governance to a parliamentary system and, if it is passed, bring the changes to the Constitution.
Parliament Speaker and former President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed
