MDP questions responding to presidential address

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary Group Leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (Ibu) has said that the rules of parliament are unclear about how to respond to the presidential address delivered yesterday by President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.

He said that no response will be given before the questions surrounding the parliament rules are answered.

Ibu said that Speaker of Majlis Abdulla Shahid has been requested to clarify questions on several articles of the parliament rules arising as a result of the change of government. He said that a decision cannot be made regarding the presidential address until the legal questions on parliament rules can be answered.

Article 25 (b) of Majlis rules of procedure states that following the delivery of the presidential address, the party with most members other than the one represented by the President (majority leader or minority leader) must prepare and deliver a response to the presidential address. According to article 25 (e), this response must be delivered within 14 days of the presidential address.

Ibu said that as the current President’s party is not represented in the Parliament, it is not clear which party is opposition. The parliament rules do not specify how the bills submitted to the Parliament by MDP should be handled. At the same time, as there is no member in the parliament representing the current government, there is no way to submit bills proposed by the government.

“Only after resolving all these issues can the presidential address be responded to. Right now everything is a question. Speaker of Parliament mentioned yesterday after the parliament session that an answer will be given after considering the questions from a legal perspective,” said MDP Parliamentary Group Leader Ibu, who is also the parliament majority leader.

Ibu said that a decision can be made on this issue according to the advice of the parliament council general. The relevant committees of the parliament will work on this.

Ibu said that the presidential address yesterday was not clear, and that the only thing that indicates that a presidential address was delivered is the written parliament records.

“I did not hear what Waheed was saying at the parliament yesterday. I have asked the parliament office to give me a copy of the presidential address… I won’t know if the speech he made was the presidential address until I read it,” Ibu said.

DRP Parliamentary Group Deputy Leader Abdulla Mausoom said that MDP is responsible for the response to the presidential address. If MDP cannot provide this within 14 days, a response has to be made by amending the parliament rules.