Majlis to seek legal counsel from Supreme Court reg. constitutional amendment to extend councilors' terms

The People’s Majlis is to seek legal counsel from the Supreme Court in connection to the government’s proposal to amend the constitution to extend the terms of councilors.

This was revealed by the Parliament Speaker and Former President Mohamed Nasheed during Wednesday’s sitting, where MPs debated on the motion, some having voiced against it.

Particularly, some of the MPs representing main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had raised concern over the proposal, during such a crisis.

This comes at a time MDP’s Parliamentary Group (GP) approved the proposal to amend the constitution in order to extend councilors terms, on Tuesday.

Despite having reached the decision, members continue to voice against the amendments.

In this regard, the speaker noted that the next institute to turn to for legal counsel, is the Supreme Court and that this must be done under the legal mandate.

This might bring a temporary solution for the matter, said Nasheed.

He noted that Article 231 (a) of the Maldives constitution notes that “all members of councils created for decentralized administration shall be democratically elected by secret ballot, by their respective communities”. This, he added, will remain unchanged when the amendments are brought.

Sponsored by Bilehdhoo constituency MP Ahmed Haleem, the motion seeks to extend the terms of existing councilors until the local council elections can be held, at a time it has been delayed indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In accordance with Article 231 (c) of the constitution which states that the “terms of councils elected to administer the constituencies shall not exceed three years”, the terms of councilors can only be extended after amending the constitution.

The current councilors’ terms will end on June 3.