Nasheed proposes to cap parliament seats at 76
Nasheed, who supports the parliamentary system, has repeatedly said that the situation in Maldives can only be improved by changing the existing system.
Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, who is leading the founding of a breakaway political party called The Democrats, said on Monday that he was considering a proposal to amend the constitution so that the number of lawmakers does not exceed 76.
Nasheed was speaking at a meeting held at The Democrats' main political camp in Male to discuss the systemic changes to the constitution.
At the meeting, Nasheed opened for public comment on changes he believes could be made to the constitution to change the composition of the current 87-member parliament.
Nasheed proposed to change the current position of the parliament to increase the number of seats in proportion to the growing population of the country and keep the number of seats in the parliament at it is:
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55 members to be elected from the cities and islands
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Eight seats for women in four regions
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Two seats for people with disabilities
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Change the way parliamentary debates are shaped to talk about what needs to be done in constituencies and islands
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Reserve 11 seats for a national list to advocate on issues facing the whole country
In addition, the other key ideas were:
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Include a provision in the constitution to take a recall vote in the middle of the term so that MPs can be removed if the people of the constituency so wish
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To seek the opportunity for parliament to participate in the administration of government; One way to do that is to elect ministers from among the members of parliament as in a parliamentary system
All the proposals are ideas and not decisions, Nasheed said. He repeatedly said that The Democrats would decide to do any of these things after taking into account the views of the public and party members.
After making these points, the proposal to cap the parliament seats was the most welcomed by the public. Many also supported quotas and recall votes.
Public comments based on the Democrats' proposals included:
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50% of parliamentary seats for women
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Set a quota for youth to increase the proportion of youth running for parliament, away from the influence of businessmen and the rich
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Develop a rule to determine the age limit for candidates and to assess their educational level and work experience
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Change the salaries and allowances of parliamentarians so they cannot determine it and establish an agency such as a pay commission at the national level to do so
Nasheed, who supports the parliamentary system, has repeatedly said that the situation in Maldives can only be improved by changing the existing governance system.
