'Dismissed' lawmakers should be allowed to participate in Monday's sitting: opposition

The Supreme Court’s order on Sunday night does not state that the 12 lawmakers whose position in parliament is contested, have lost their seats.

The allied opposition parties, who refer to themselves collectively as the ‘Joint Opposition’, said at a press conference just hours after the order, that said parliamentarians should be allowed to participate in Monday’s session.

At the conference MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the Maldivian Democratic Party’s parliamentary group leader, explained that the government had moved to have three points on the Supreme Court’s ruling on the 1st of February, repealed.

One of these points is the Supreme Court stating that 12 parliamentarians previously said to have lost their seats by the Elections Commission, retain them. MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said that the Supreme Court’s order following the Attorney General’s Office’s request only delays their reinstatement in parliament.

Solih further said that this order does not disqualify the lawmakers yet and delays the start of parliamentary sessions for this year, and that by all procedures, they should be allowed to participate in Monday’s special session.

The Elections Commission last year named 12 lawmakers, all of whom are aligned with the opposition, coincidentally, to have lost their seats in parliament. This decision came following a Supreme Court ruling on a case filed by the Attorney General's office over floor-crossing and switching party allegiances.