Former president and Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has once again expressed a desire to have the Maldives shift to a parliamentary system of governance to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

In a text message, Speaker Nasheed communicated to President Solih that he wished to have the Maldives transition into a parliamentary system of governance, and to forgo the 2021 Presidential Elections in favor of creating a new parliamentary government in the Maldives in February that year. Speaker Nasheed asked that a President be designated for the Maldives under the new government in the 2024 Parliamentary Elections.

This is not the first time the island nation has deliberated the question of reforming the government into a parliamentary system. In 2008, a constitutional referendum was held to decide whether the country should pursue a parliamentary system of government as opposed to a presidential system. Speaker Nasheed had been part of then-opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), and was firmly opposed to ex-President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom's insistence that the Maldives remain within a presidential system of governance.

Official results of the referendum depicted a majority support for the presidential system, which has continued to this day with incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration having assumed power in the most recent presidential elections. Even now, Speaker Nasheed maintains that the 2007 referendum had been rigged by ex-President Maumoon, who was President of the Maldives for 30 years between 1978 and 2008.

In addition to this, Speaker Nasheed has previously discussed his vision for a Maldives with parliamentary governance. In 2019, Speaker Nasheed in an interview stated that the President would be leading discussions to change the system of governance in the country, and that Speaker Nasheed did not wish to pursue his goal at an inconvenience to the President.

September 2020 had seen Speaker Nasheed mention in MDP's "Khabaru Sitee" publication that the surest way to secure President Solih a second term would be to have the Maldives transition into a parliamentary system of governance.

While media reports of Speaker Nasheed's pubic lobbying for a parliamentary government stirred controversy overnight, former president Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom was quick with a rebuttal. In a tweet posted on Monday afternoon, Maumoon stated that the presidential governance system in Maldives had been elected by majority of it's citizens, and that the system of governance was not something that could be changed at whim.

However the debate may have progressed in the past, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has delivered a clear response to Speaker Nasheed's push for a parliamentary government. Spokesperson for the President's Office Mabrook Azeez confirmed President Solih's stance on the matter, noting that the system of governance had been chosen by Maldivian citizens, and that it could only be changed by the will of those citizens.

It remains to be seen how the President will respond to the remainder of Speaker Nasheed's requests. In the text message, Speaker Nasheed had expressed displeasure at being "side-lined" from leading the country, and declared that he would like to serve as Prime Minister for the new government. Nasheed also stated that he envisioned the President as one that was designated by the parliament if the system of governance was changed.