Parties call upon president to ratify two bills

Political parties represented in the parliament have called upon President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik to ratify the bill on political parties and the bill on parliament privileges and powers, and to publish these bills on the government gazette today.

This decision by the parliamentary group leaders of MDP, PPM, DRP, Jumhooree Party and PPA was informed to the media by Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Shahid today.

A statement released by the speaker of parliament states that the members of the parties represented in the parliament believe that the president had been given adequate opportunities to ratify the bill on political parties and the bill on parliament privileges and powers, and thus call upon the president to publish the bills on the government gazette immediately.

Shahid further said that the MPs do not believe that the attorney general can challenge the bill on political parties in Supreme Court until it is ratified.

The Committee on Oversight of the Government have decided to summon Attorney General Aishath Azima Shakoor for questioning regarding filing a case to Supreme Court in relation to a bill that had not been ratified. An emergency meeting of the committee is presently under way for this purpose.