MP Ali Hussain reiterates commitment to reform
MP Ali Hussain says he will vote for any ‘reform policies that benefit the people’
MP Ali Hussain speaking at a debate programme organised by state-broadcaster Public Service Media, for the People\'s Majlis Election 2019
Kendhoo constituency MP Ali Hussain has said that he will support all government reform policies that benefit the people.
In an interview with RaajjeTV, MP Hussain said that his constituents believe in the government’s current reform policies towards the economy, judiciary, health care, and welfare.
The lawmaker said that so long as the government continues to introduce policies that are in the ‘interests of the people and the nation’, he will support it.
MP Hussain, who was re-elected in the parliamentary election held on Saturday, has continued to support the government since it was formed, and since the Jumhooree Party, to which he belongs, aligned itself against former president Abdulla Yameen’s government in 2015.
However, the Jumhooree Party has aligned itself with the ‘Progressive Coalition’ which comprises of staunch Yameen loyalists, after alleging that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), violated an agreement over dividing parliament constituencies ahead of Saturday’s vote.
Jumhooree Party leader Qasim Ibrahim’s decision has caused internal party conflict, with party president Ali Waheed expressing support for MDP’s policies, and denouncing Qasim’s decision to work with ‘Yameen puppets’, as Waheed described it.
Despite the conflict, coalition leaders, including President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, have expressed belief that unity among partners still exists, and that highly publicised criticism of each other is merely competition, expected ahead of such a major election.
Initial poll count for Saturday’s vote shows MDP having secured at least 70 percent in the 87-seat house; while the Elections Commission will begin announcing interim results on Saturday, a final result will be released within the week.
MDP has proposed 19 legislations to be submmitted in parliament, including a draft bill on leving income tax and developing economic and health sector operations. The parliamentarians elected in Saturday's vote will take their oath of office in late May.
