Democrats bill on governance referendum rejected

The Democrats' amendment to the constitution in relation to changing to a parliamentary system of governance was rejected in Tuesday's sitting.

The amendment was moved by Imthiyaz Fahumy, MP for Maafannu North, on behalf of The Democrats, which has always advocated for a parliamentary system of government. He introduced the amendment on October 2, following the first round of the presidential election.

Tuesday's voting hour was to decide whether to pass the bill.

The MDP-controlled parliament rejected the bill with 44 votes.

There were 59 members in the Parliament at the time, with 12 voting for the bill.

Imthiyaz moved the amendment:

Transparency Maldives has expressed concern that the amendment is unconstitutional.

Article 70, which is mentioned in the amendment, defines the powers of parliament. These powers include taking a referendum from the people. The Democrats wanted at the time to try to change the governance system after taking a referendum from the people under the article.

Imthiyaz’s amendment was proposed to add an additional letter to the preamble of Section 262(b). According to article (b), a bill passed by parliament to amend the constitution will become law only after the president ratifies it. The president can ratify a bill passed by parliament to amend the three provisions of the constitution only if it is approved in a general public vote to determine whether the people like it.

These three things are: