Ruling party lawmaker submits motion to repeal anti-defection law

A ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) aligned lawmaker has submitted a motion to repeal the anti-defection law, introduced and passed by fellow members of his party.

Vilufushi constituency MP Riyaz Rasheed, the deputy parliamentary group leader of the party, had submitted the motion on Wednesday. Riyaz had signed a motion to dismiss parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh, a staunch supporter of PPM, also submitted on Monday.

The anti-defection law was introduced as per a Supreme Court ruling on floor-crossing, which states that according to the political parties act a parliamentarian that loses membership of the party they were elected to parliament through will also lose their seat.

The law has been criticized as a political attempt to bar lawmakers that defected from PPM to the Joint Opposition. The law was back dated to take effect from a period before its passing and resulted in 12 lawmakers losing their seats.

While the circumstances under which the law was passed has been described as political maneuvering attempted at crippling dissent towards the government, the law itself has been deemed important by a number of people.