Parliament says no legal issue with speaker being above 65

The parliament has stated that there is no legal issue with the speaker being above 65 years of age.

At a press conference on Sunday, deputy speaker Moosa Manik said this in response to a statement made by Azima Shakoor, the legal affairs minister at the president’s office.

In a Facebook post, Azima Shakoor said that since the speaker has to assumed the responsibilities of president if the president or vice president resigns, the person elected as speaker should have all the qualifications of the president.

Citing the Constitutional amendment barring anyone above 65 from the presidency, Azima questioned whether Maamigili MP and Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim, who is 68, should have been elected as speaker.

At Sunday’s press conference, deputy speaker Manik said that a speaker has to assume any responsibility that comes to him and that if there was any legal obstruction barring the speaker from assuming the role of president, the responsibility would fall on the deputy speaker.

He also said that anyone with the qualifications to become an MP can be elected as the speaker.