Umar: With constitutional amendment, People’s Majlis has become ‘Party’s Majlis’

With the rushed amendment on Wednesday to include anti-defection provisions in the Constitution, the People’s Majlis has become the ‘Party’s Majlis’, says former Home Minister Umar Naseer.

The constitutional amendment was submitted, passed and ratified in quick succession on Wednesday.

The new provisions have drawn concern from the opposition, as well as the legal community.

In a post on Facebook on Thursday morning, Umar said the change has trapped lawmakers inside the fists of political party leaders – leaving no room for difference of opinion, and subjecting lawmakers to the risk of expulsion from their political party and loss of their parliamentary seat if they voice a different opinion or casts a vote against party lines.

“Majlis members now have no option but to remain silent and praise their party leader no matter how grave of a wrongdoing they commit,” he said.

“This is the end of Majlis members casting their votes based on free thinking.”

Umar said that though a candidate may get elected to the Parliament on a party ticket, around 75 percent of the constituents who vote for them are not members of that party. He said that parliamentarians must represent all constituents as well as the country as a whole, and not a specific political party.

“A member elected with the vote of hundreds of people can now be expelled from the Majlis with the vote of three members of the disciplinary committee of a political party. With this, People’s Majlis has changed to a Party’s Majlis. Its regrettable that Majlis members do not realize when they are cutting themselves with knives,” he said.

Umar said that all damage the country has suffered over the last 19 years can be traced back to political parties. He said that power of the Parliament that is elected by the people now lies in the hands of the leaders of two political parties.

The legislature enacted on Wednesday adds three more circumstances where parliamentarians will lose their seat. They are:

• If a parliamentarian resigns from or is dismissed or expelled from the party they were elected on behalf of
• If a parliamentarian switches parties or is dismissed or expelled from a party
• If an independent parliamentarian joins a party

The legislature was passed by the Parliament, of which the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) holds a supermajority, amid protests by parliamentarians from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – who hold just a dozen seats in the 93-member Parliament.

MDP said they aren’t opposed to anti-defection provisions in principle. But they do not believe it should apply to parliamentarians who are expelled. They also object to the lack of extensive consultation and debate before making constitutional amendments.

Amendments proposed by the MDP to stipulate that parliamentarians expelled from their parties can only be removed after a public vote were rejected.

Anti-government protestors had also gathered outside the Parliament to demonstrate against the bill, and clashes erupted after they were confronted by pro-government protestors, before the police intervened and separated the two groups.

The passage of the bill had also come after the Bar Council asked the Parliament for a chance to consult on the legislature, citing that council members as well as the larger legal community had certain concerns regarding the bill.

However, Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla, the chairperson of the PNC, said that the bill did not require public consultation.