Main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s President and Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed has said that the government will lose support if it does not allow a vote to change the country's system of governance to a parliamentary system.
Nasheed made the statement while speaking at discussions held at the MDP Haruge on changing the country's government system from a presidential to a parliamentary system.
Nasheed said 135,000 people voted for the MDP and allied parties in the 2018 Presidential Election. Out of these, over 100,000 people voted for MDP, and the rest voted for Jumhooree Party, Adhaalath Party, and Maldives Reform Movement, he noted. Nasheed said it was apparent that the MDP would still win the most votes in the Maldives even if the party stood alone in the election.
Nasheed estimated that MDP would receive over 112,000 votes if the party contested the election strongly. However, it is important to allow for a vote on the government system to maintain that strength within the party, he said. If that opportunity is not given, 42 percent of the vote will be lost, he said.
"I always calculate based on political reality. I think if there is no structural and systemic change, 42 percent of the MDP members will not vote for the current government. That's 47,000 people. When these 47,000 people are removed from the 112,000 votes, that is only 65,000 votes for the government- 27 percent of the total vote," Nasheed said.
Nasheed has been advocating changing the country's government system to a parliamentary system for several years. He has submitted a resolution seeking the change to the MDP's Congress and hopes to bring amendments to the Constitution to achieve his vision.
The parliamentary system proposed by President Nasheed will have both a president and a prime minister. According to the resolution, the Prime Minister is the head of government while President is the head of state. According to the resolution, the Prime Minister will be appointed by the party that wins more than half of the seats of the Parliament. If no party wins a majority, the government can be formed with the parties that win seats in Parliament. The President shall be elected by popular vote.
The resolution stated that the Prime Minister is empowered to form the Cabinet, but the Prime Minister must seek the advice of the President in appointing the Defense Minister and the Foreign Minister. The powers of the President include the appointment and dismissal of ambassadors, the appointment and dismissal of members of independent institutions, and declaring public holidays.
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.
