Parliament has passed the amendment where petitions can be repeatedly submitted to the Parliament.

As per Article 272(c) of the Standing Orders of the Parliament, Funadhoo Constituency MP Mohamed Mamdhooh seeks to repeal Article 275-1(f), with it being sent for debate yesterday and for a decision to be reached by the relevant Permanent Committee.

As the General Purpose Committee of the Parliament decided to change the regulations to allow petitions to be submitted repeatedly regarding a single matter or issue to the Parliament yesterday, the debate regarding the amendment took place on the Parliament floor today along with the vote as well.

The amendment saw a 56 majority vote from the MPs that had taken part in today's sitting. 10 MPs voted against the amendment.

When this change was proposed, a petition calling for the withdrawal of the amendment proposed to the Decentralization Act, which allows lands within the jurisdiction of councils to be taken by the state, reached 2,100 signatures and attained the status of a special petition. Reaching this number of signatures makes it mandatory to debate the matter on the Parliament floor.

Furthermore, bringing it to the government's attention requires the issue of this petition to be placed on the agenda and debated in one of the upcoming three sittings.

It is learned that MP Mamdooh proposed this change to create room for submitting an additional petition on the matter, after S. Meedhoo Council President Ahmed Shathir mistakenly sent the petition he spearheaded, calling to proceed with the proposed amendment to the Decentralization Act as it currently stands, to the parliamentary committee before obtaining enough signatures to make debate on the floor of the Parliament mandatory.

However, under the current regulations, there is no opportunity to submit petitions repeatedly on the same matter in this manner.