Democrats stay neutral in runoff as parties reject demands
The Democrats at its interim council meeting on Monday passed a motion with separate conditions and demands for both the parties contesting the runoff.
The Democrats on Thursday decided not to support any candidate in the second round of the presidential election after the MDP and PPP-PNC failed to respond to their demands by the deadline.
The Democrats at its interim council meeting on Monday passed a motion with separate conditions and demands for both the parties contesting the runoff:
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If the MDP agrees before Wednesday to hold a referendum on the governance system before the September 30 presidential runoff, the Democrats will sign an agreement with the ruling party
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If PPM-PNC agrees to sign a document before Wednesday outlining the Democrats share in a PPM-PNC government and the extent to which their policies will be included in the government
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If the two parties do not agree to the conditions, Democrats will not support any party in the second round
In a brief press release, the Democrats said on Thursday that it would not support any candidate in the runoff as both parties failed to agree to their demands by Wednesday's deadline.
The decision comes after the main opposition PPM-PNC leadership rejected the Democrats' demand to sign an agreement on their share in PPM-PNC government.
Although the Democrats in its motion conditioned MDP to agree to holding referendum on the system of government by September 28, the resolution submitted by Democrats' MP Ilyas Labeeb and passed at Wednesday's parliament sitting called for holding the referendum before October 30.
The resolution, which called for the parliament to directly ask the Elections Commission to hold the referendum, was passed with MDP's backing as well.
However, President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih believes:
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Referendum on governance system can be taken only after the parliament passes a motion by a three-fourth majority or with the backing of 66 out of the 87 MPs, and sends its to him, following which he can request the Elections Commission to hold a referendum
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If the resolution is passed by the parliament and sent to him, he will request the Elections Commission to take the vote before October 30, as per Ilyas's resolution, before the presidential runoff
However, Article 70 of the constitution gives parliament the power to decide to hold a referendum on important matters affecting the people.
