MDP says no pact with Democrats on constitutional referendum
Nasheed said the condition was that his Democrats stayed neutral in the runoff.
By
Aishath Fareeha Abdulla
MDP Chairperson Fayyaz Ismail has said speaker Mohamed Nasheed's statement regarding MDP assuring full support to hold a referendum on changing the system of governance from presidential to parliamentary if The Democrats did not support any party in the second round of the presidential election is baseless.
In Tuesday's sitting of the parliament, Nasheed said that he “cannot conceal this kind of information and that MDP had pledged support for system change with a condition." He said the condition was that Nasheed and his Democrats stayed neutral in the runoff.
When asked about Nasheed's remarks, Fayyaz said The Democrats had offered the MDP their full support in the second round of the election if a referendum was held before September 30.
"The MDP did not agree to that. There is no other agreement with The Democrats. It is the party's own decision not to support any candidate in the second round," Fayyaz said.
At Parliament on Tuesday Nasheed said that when the MDP went to the second round of the presidential election, the MDP asked The Democrats not to support any particular party and said they would fully support the governance system change in return.
"The MDP has obtained a letter from The Democrats, I am informed, for this purpose. However, the MDP has not responded to that letter," Nasheed said.
"I'm not saying that the MDP is a party that can be trusted at the moment... However, I just told you what had happened."
Parliament had in late September sent to the Elections Commission a resolution seeking a referendum on the system of governance in Maldives by October 30.
The Elections Commission has since requested the parliament to determine and provide the question to be asked of the people in the public referendum seeking views on changing the country's governance system.
Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, a long-time advocate of changing the existing presidential system to a parliamentary system, was set to submit a proposal to the parliament last week to determine the wording on the ballot paper to be used in the referendum on the governance system in Maldives, as well as a paper on the proposed system of governance.
The proposals will be debated later.
Despite earlier setting October 29 as the tentative date for holding a proposed public referendum on changing the system of governance from presidential to parliamentary, the date will be announced later as more time is needed to prepare for the vote, the Elections Commission has said in a letter to the parliament.
