Time not right to introduce parliament seat cap, Aslam says

MDP Parliamentary Group (PG) and the party are concerned about the increasing number of MPs in the parliament, but they do not believe this is the best time to cap the number of MPs, MDP PG leader Mohamed Aslam said Monday.

The number of MPs in administrative constituencies is determined by the registered population, so 93 MPs should be elected in next year's parliamentary elections. This is six more than the 87 members of the current 19th parliament.

In August, The Democrats, who represent the minority in the parliament, introduced a bill to amend the constitution to cap the number of parliament seats at 76 and eight of those seats for women.

Aslam, the MDP PG leader, told a press conference at the parliamentary office on Monday that the MDP has concerns about the progress of the work.

"I believe that there should be time for such things. There should be an election ahead and the number of people who can contest the election again. We should discuss it well enough and decide on such things," he said, noting that it was his personal views.

"So, I personally don't think we can limit it to the upcoming elections, for example, and change the constitution. And I personally don't think it's the best way to do it that way."

Despite his opinion, Aslam said that if the MDP PG and the party decide otherwise, he will proceed accordingly.

All the parties that contested the presidential election this time supported the retention of the number of members and included it in their manifestos. Therefore, some are saying that this is the best time to keep the number of members at a certain number and bring the necessary reforms to the parliament.

According to the constitution, every 5,000 people is an administrative division. With that, the number of MPs is increasing after each term. 

The newly added constituencies for next year's parliamentary elections are: