Supreme Court Starts Hearings of Case Regarding Loss of Parliamentarians’ Seats
Photo: Supreme Court hearing
The Supreme Court of Maldives began hearing a plea yesterday seeking to quash the constitutional amendment that allows lawmakers to lose their seats.
Ali Hussain, a former MP from Kendhoo constituency, proposed to overturn the government’s constitutional amendment to allow lawmakers to lose their seats if they leave a political party or if they are removed from a political party. He is represented by noted lawyer Mahfooz Rasheed in the court.
advertisement
During the hearing in the Supreme Court, Mahfooz said the constitutional amendment had decreased the rights of the people. He said the parliamentarians should work in the parliament without interference from anyone, and that includes influence from political parties.
Mahfooz said political party tickets, whips and party lines are not words that are within the constitution, and the constitution does not encourage political parties to exercise their powers over the state. Mahfooz also said that it is a characteristic of the parliamentary system to empower political parties to form a government, but that is not the case in the presidential system, which is what the Maldives have.
“The Maldives has a presidential system, and one of the changes that can be made if the issue is resolved in such a way that it does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution is to put in place a system to check the public’s perception of a member’s continuance when they violate their responsibility,” Mahfooz said in Dhivehi.
Speaking on the issue, lawyer Fathimath Haleem of the Attorney General’s Office said that no court in the country can deal with cases relating to constitutional amendments brought by parliament after completing all legal procedures. She made the remarks while filing a preliminary objection, saying Ali Hussain’s plea could not be taken up in the Supreme Court. She added that the case has been filed as a constitutional matter and such cases do not fall within the jurisdiction of a constitutional issue.
The Attorney General’s Office considers constitutional issues to be dealt with by the Supreme Court as matters relating to the interpretation of the Constitution. The Attorney General’s Office is of the view that constitutional amendments are not a part of this.
Ali Hussain had sought that the amendment to the constitution which seeks to disqualify members, be declared null and void as it violated Articles 4, 5, 8, 73 and 90 of the constitution.
During yesterday’s hearing, the judges asked the state several questions. However, the state was not able to adequately answer these questions. The court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on Tuesday. A chance will be given to the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) at the hearing, to present their case, as they are embroiled in it.
