Bills empowering Pres to appoint heads to ACC and EC sent to committee

Legislature submitted by the government to empower the president to appoint the heads of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Elections Commission (EC) have been accepted into the Parliament and sent to a committee for review.

The government has submitted two bills to empower the president to appoint presidents and vice presidents to both the ACC and the EC.

The Parliament, in which the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) holds a supermajority of seats, took votes on accepting the bills on Tuesday afternoon.

The bill to amend the ACC Act, sponsored by Felidhoo MP Adam Zahir, was accepted into the Parliament with a vote of 60-5.

Meanwhile, the bill to amend the EC Act, sponsored by Kelaa MP Abdulla Shareef, was accepted with a vote of 60-6.

Both bills were sent to the Independent Institutions Committee for review.

During the preliminary debate, PNC lawmakers had voiced support for the bills, especially with respect to the ACC. They said that ACC has repeatedly failed to properly investigate major acts of corruption.

However, lawmakers from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) accused the government of attempting to undermine the independence and autonomy of institutions such as the ACC and EC, and exerting influence over such institutions.

President and vice presidents of ACC and EC are currently elected with an internal vote taken among members of the respective commissions. And the results of the vote need to be submitted to the president and the Parliament within 28 hours. But with the legislative changes, presidents and vice presidents of the two commissions will be nominated by the country’s president. The nominations will be vetted by the Parliament and will require parliamentary approval. Resignations of presidents and vice presidents of the commissions will also need to be submitted to the country’s president.