Parliament comes to a standstill after issue on unratified bills heat up

Parliament session was terminated today to carry out discussions between parties after debates got heated regarding the unratified political parties’ bill and the bill on the privileges of parliament members. The two bills, which have not yet been ratified, were passed by the parliament for a second time which makes it mandatory for the President to ratify them.

One of the two bills was recently submitted to the Supreme Court by the Attorney General. The Parliament fell into a frenzy today after Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) parliamentary group members started to raise points of order saying that the a bill, as it has still not been ratified, cannot be filed at the Supreme Court.

MDP Parliamentary Group Deputy Leader Ali Waheed continuously called for points of order and repeated that a bill has to be ratified by the President and become a law before it may be submitted to the Supreme Court asking them to verify if a clause from the law contradicts with the Constitution, and that it is not legally possible for the State to take a bill, which has not yet been ratified, to the Supreme Court.

The Parliament session eventually came to a close amongst raised voices and continuous calls for points of order.

Closing today’s session, Parliament Speaker Abdulla Shahid said that as the members have raised their concerns regarding the two bills, he is currently in discussion with the leaders representing the parties, and that discussions with the leaders will be continue after the session had ended.

Attorney General has submitted a case to the Supreme Court asking to make a declaration regarding a party that will be responsible for the financial debts that are held by smaller parties, as the bill on political parties is set to cause such parties to be dissolved.

Attorney General submitted the case to the Supreme Court on the 7th of this month. The court has not yet acknowledged that they have accepted the case.