MPs call for law restricting govt initiatives ahead of elections

Parliamentarians on Monday called on a law which determines what the government can and cannot do in the run-up and during an election. 

MPs were debating a resolution moved by Maafannu North MP Imthiyaz Fahmy calling on the government to implement and facilitate the elections in accordance with its promise to hold fair and free elections.

Thulusdhoo MP Ibrahim Naseem said that every election has been influenced by the government since the beginning. But when it comes to determining whether a government is taking undue advantages, it sometimes "interprets" it differently, he said.

"We can't even eliminate it completely. All we can do is try to reduce it," he said.

Naseem said the incumbent government did similar things. He alleged that government-owned companies were hiring more employees than they needed to coincide with the elections. In particular, he mentioned the recruitment of employees for the Fenaka Corporation during the September presidential election campaign. 

Naseem expressed concern that the resolution was moved too late, that it should have been done before the election. The resolution was first read in parliament on March 14. It was introduced in the first term of the year but its preliminary debate began during the ongoing third term, on September 13. It was also after the first round of the presidential election.

Like Naseem, Kendhoo MP Ali Hussain expressed his dissatisfaction with the resolution's timing too. He said that when the resolution began, the ship has already sailed, using a local metaphor; “the cow is dead”.

In Ali Hussain's speech, he highlighted the problems in the distribution of constituencies. 

"If you look at the number of people allotted to some constituencies in Male, do you know that there are 6,043 in one constituency? For another constituency, it is 3897... There is a difference of 2,146 people. Here's a look at one island. I'm talking about Male alone," Ali Hussain said.

He alleged that the city's constituencies were being divided in such a way to get a seat for a particular person and their benefit. He believes it is an undue influence on elections by the government.

As a solution to the issues raised by the MPs, Hulhumale MP Ali Niyaz proposed that a law or regulation be issued to determine what the government can and cannot do during the elections. 

"If things are not limited in this way by law or regulation, for example, if a law or regulation stipulates that companies cannot create more jobs during elections, they will not do so for a certain period of time”, Ali Niyaz said.