The President asserted that he would "not do a single thing" against the law and would fulfil the responsibilities given to him by the people with honesty and integrity.
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has stated that he has appealed for advice from the Attorney General following today's Supreme Court ruling which stated that the Parliament's amendments to regulations changing method of counting quorum is unconstitutional, but that no action can be taken as the parliament has since revoked said articles.
The Supreme Court stated in its ruling that the Constitution has determined different majority requirements for the Parliament in the voting on different matters for an important cause. They said that this was done to ensure the engagement of higher representation of the people in deciding on critical matters.
The Supreme Court ruling declared that the Parliament did not have a reasonable justification to amend the manner of counting parliamentarian total. It said that even for daily proceedings, the parliament had more than the required majority of members.
The ruling went on to say that the new amendment achieved no purpose besides providing additional strength to politically motivated votes led by the party currently holding parliament majority.
Not longer after the Supreme Court issued the ruling, President Dr Muizzu addressed the issue while speaking to residents of Noonu atoll Kendhikulhudhoo in his ongoing trip to the northern atolls.
He alleged that even though the Supreme Court has ruled today that counting the total parliamentarian number as 80 is in contravention of the Constitution, the parliament had applied this total member count when voting to pass the amendments to the General Elections Act postponing the upcoming parliamentary elections.
"So I have asked for legal advice from the Attorney General, and I will only then will I proceed. That is because this involves the rights of so many citizens. I always want to pay close attention to making sure I am abiding by the Constitution and laws. The Constitution and laws are established for the benefit of all Maldivian citizens," the President said.
He asserted that he would "not do a single thing" against the law and would fulfil the responsibilities given to him by the people with honesty and integrity.
While the President has stated this, parliament records of yesterday's vote regarding the amendments to the General Elections Act show the bill was passed through the votes of 47 members, with 14 voting against. Even if the total number of parliamentarians is considered at 87, the majority will be reached through a minimum of 43 votes.
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