Pres won't use intermediary to instruct new ruling party MPs

On Tuesday, President Mohammed Muizzu delivered an important message to the newly added People’s National Congress (PNC) members of the newly elected Parliament: I will say directly, what needs to be said on behalf of the President.

This is a very clear message from President Muizzu, given the relationship between former presidents and MPs, some of those who attended Tuesday's meeting said.

The PNC alone won 66 seats and the government-allied candidates made up more than 75 seats. The new parliament has 93 constituencies.

President Muizzu’s clear message stood apart from the temperament of former President Abdullah Yameen and former President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih. Neither of these two presidents had maintained close contact with all their party MPs. Members have complained about it in various ways.

"The members will always be contacted by someone in the government and will be relayed a message from the president, saying this or the president wants them to do that. But Muizzu directly said that there will be no one to call in the name of the president, that he will give the message he wants to give to the members," relayed an attendee from Tuesday's meeting, who did not wish to be named on the matter.

"The president said there won't be any member who cannot contact him. They can get in touch, I'll answer, he said. It's very clear what the president said."

Some current and former MPs told Atoll Times that the President has an important role to play in maintaining the unity of the government supermajority in Parliament. But there was no such close relationship with Yameen or Solih and their majority members in parliament.

An MDP member said that Solih did not keep close relations with most members.

“The President does not have that temperament to meet with members and always improve his relationship with them,” the member said.

However, there is the case that MPs do not know when to contact the president. For example, a member called the President to get a room at the IGMH during the Yameen government.

“It is wrong to call and text the President about such things,” a former PPM member said.

A person who attended Tuesday's meeting said that President Muizzu had learned from the experience of previous presidents.

"It was really good that he sat down with the entire cabinet and spoke directly to the members. He told them that the Parliament is very important to the government. He said that he would not be distant from the members," one said.

"There is no confusion now. If the President wants something done a certain way, he will tell the members directly. Someone else calling for the President, saying he said this or that From what i understand, there will be no further such delegation”.

The new members of parliament will be sworn in on the 28th of next month.