Parliament to hold vote on Anti-Defection Bill and amendments to Judges Act on Tuesday.
A parliament sitting is scheduled for 1pm on Tuesday. The two items on agenda are; vote on the Anti-Defection Bill proposed by ruling party’s parliamentary group leader Ahmed Nihan; and vote on the amendments to the Judges Act, proposed by ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)’s deputy leader Abdul Raheem Abdulla.
According to the Anti-Defection Bill, lawmakers, elected on political party tickets, will lose their seat if they leave their party, get expelled, or switch parties. The Bill, which states the steps and procedures to be followed in such a case, also states that a party’s ethics committee can unseat a parliamentarian.
The bill, proposed last Wednesday, was passed by the parliament’s Committee on Independent Institutions on Monday night.
Addu-Meedhoo constituency MP, Rozaina Adam said the bill would take effect from 13 July 2017, which would mean that the 12 ruling party MPs that switched to the opposition last year would lose their seats. The Bill was submitted to parliament after a ruling by the Supreme Court on 1st February, that ordered the reinstatement of all 12 MPs.
The amendments to the Judges Act, proposed by MP Abdul Raheem, seeks to remove judges, if convicted of a criminal offence and the ruling is upheld by the Supreme Court. Presently, a sitting judge “can only be removed if the judicial watchdog finds him guilty of gross incompetence or misconduct and submits a resolution to be passed by a two-thirds majority of parliament”.
This proposal coincides with the government’s arrest of two Supreme Court justices, who are accused of accepting bribes in a ‘conspiracy to overthrow the government’.
Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed were arrested following President Abdulla Yameen’s declaration of a state of emergency on 5th February, after refusing to implement a ruling issued by the Supreme Court four days earlier.
Opposition parliamentarians continue to boycott parliament sittings, claiming that they are being held unconstitutionally.
