Members at the 14 th sitting of second session held yesterday morning supported the amendment proposed by the government to temporarily waive the provisions of the article 9 of the Presidential Elections Bill, to facilitate presidential contenders to carry on campaign activities for the forthcoming presidential elections before the announcement of the elections by the elections commissioner.
Four members spoke against the amendment. They are, Raa atoll MP Ibrahim Shaheed Zaki, Male’ MP Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra), Thaa atoll MPs Hassan Afeef and Mohamed Shareef (Senco). The 4 members said that the amendment should not be accepted by the Majlis and that they will not support the amendment.
MP Shaheed Zaki said government’s amendment indicates its intention to hold the elections under the current constitution. He said the forthcoming presidential elections and the parliamentary elections must be held under the transitional chapter of the new constitution. Stating that there is no bar on campaigning he called on members to reject the amendment.
Criticizing the amendment Ibra said that the article in question is an annulled article and that the amendment to amend it is also not valid. He said the government’s proposal raises serious questions on the forthcoming presidential elections. Ibra expressed that the proposed amendment implied that the elections to elect the next president to assume the office of the president effective November 11 will be under the existing constitution. He further said the only person who knows the actual objective of the proposed amendment will be the president.
Thaa atoll MP Mohamed Shareef also spoke against the amendment. He accused the government of attempting to hold the forthcoming presidential elections under the existing constitution. He noted that if the elections are to be held under the existing constitution 18 year olds will not be able to exercise their voting privilege.
Legal Reform Minister Mohamed Nasheed in presenting the amendment to the Majlis said that when the government on previous occasion proposed to nullify the Bill members objected and now members are still objecting when government is proposing only to temporarily suspend an article of the Bill. He expressed the government’s intention in proposing to amend the Bill is to remove the constitutional barrier on presidential campaigning before the elections are announced by the commissioner. He said the amendment is due to complaints of some contenders wishing to proceed with campaigning to seek support of the people. Nasheed expressed that previous presidential elections were held under the existing Presidential Elections Bill and that no member has ever said that the Bill was nullified. Nasheed further said the proposed amendment only seeks to freeze an article of the Bill and not to abolish the entire Bill.
Meemu atoll MP Aneesa Ahmed spoke in support of Minister Nasheed and said previously when government sought to abolish the Bill members had rejected and now members are still objecting to a very valid and sound amendment.
Most members spoke in support of the amendment and urged the Majlis to accept the amendment. They also called on President Gayoom to expedite the ratification of the new constitution.
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