Parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed has said all efforts to change governance to a parliamentary system has been ceased for now in favor of granting chance to president-elect Dr. Mohamed Muizzu to govern as the next president.
Nasheed, who met with Dr. Muizzu on Tuesday, October 3, expressed his support for The Democrats' initiatives aimed at changing the governance system. The parliament speaker had informed Dr. Muizzu about the progress of the referendum resolution.
"But we have decided, as well as The Democrats, not to proceed with it right now," Nasheed said, adding that the party he helped found now wished for Dr. Muizzu to assume his presidency.
Nasheed said that discussions about changing the governance system have not been permanently abandoned. He also indicated that Dr. Muizzu hinted that discussions about the parliamentary system would resume in the future.
"[Dr. Muizzu] stated that when the time is right, a referendum could be held to determine the preferred governance system," Nasheed expressed his satisfaction with the response from the president-elect.
Nasheed also said that the parliament has decided against proceeding with clarifying the referendum's question for now.
While The Democrats and Nasheed urged for a referendum vote before October 30, the speaker's stance changed after Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) national council recently voted against supporting the parliamentary system.
The majority of MDP national council members expressed their opposition to the parliamentary system and had strongly criticised Nasheed and his party as well.
At the council meeting, MDP Chairperson and minister of economic development submitted a resolution through the party's secretariat. The resolution said that the party will not endorse a parliamentary system if and when a referendum for a governance system election is called.
All 90 members of the national council voted in favor of the resolution.
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