Parliament speaker vows to get Yameen's PNC registered
Qasim Ibrahim met with PPM lawmakers on Wednesday
Speaker Qasim Ibrahim with PPM lawmakers
Parliament Speaker Qasim Ibrahim has said that he will make sure that former President Abdulla Yameen's People's National Progress (PNC) is registered, even if parliament "has to convene for 24 hours."
Ruling coalition partner, Jumhooree Party (JP)'s leader said this at an event held at the party headquarters on Wednesday night.
Hinting that PNC's registration is being delayed due to Elections Commission (EC) member's "personal reasons" against the party, Qasim said that he will provide full support to them.
He added that EC officials will be summoned to the parliament's committee on independent institutions, if required.
Qasim also claimed that ensuring that the party is registered is his responsibility, and that he will do so even he has to convene parliament for 24 hours.
While PNC is formed by former President Yameen and his allies at Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Qasim met members of PPM's parliamentary group on Wednesday.
Noting that their biggest complaint was EC's refusal to register PNC, Qasim said that he had called EC officials including President Ahmed Shareef regarding the matter.
According to him, the officials informed him that the reason for the delay is because they are properly verifying the application forms due to certain accusations directed towards them by party members.
Noting that EC is calling each member individually before verifying, the speaker is to have questioned the officials on the procedures of verification.
While a political party can only be registered after the submission of 3,000 membership applications, PNC has submitted over 5,000 applications, but only 2,300 is valid.
Last Friday, the JP leader announced decision to work with "other parties" in April's parliamentary elections, after accusing main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) of casting the party aside after coming into power.
He said that MDP had violated an agreement made by the coalition, to divide parliament seats between coalition partners.
MDP decided to compete for all seats, and had held its primary election on Friday.
While MDP denies that there is such an agreement, Qasim accused the party of lying.
