President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has today ratified the Anti Defection Act.
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has today ratified the Anti Defection Act.
The Anti Defection Bill was passed in parliament on 1st April stipulating that if an MP floor crosses from the party they were elected from, then the MP must submit their own resignation.
The bill was passed with 33 votes in favour. Six MPs voted against the bill.
This bill was submitted by Maldivian Democratic Party's MP for Baarah constituency Ahmed Abdulla.
A special committee consisting of seven members from opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was formed to review the bill, which brought major changes before sending it for vote on the parliament floor.
The Anti-Defection Bill initially stated that parliament members will lose their seats in the case of floor crossing to a party other than the one they were elected through. The most major amendment the committee brought to the bill is changing this to read that MPs, instead of losing their seats, must resign of their own volition in the case of floor crossing. Three instances which require resignation are defined in the now ratified Act.
If an MP leaves the party they were elected through and join another party, or gets registered in another party, or if an independent MP joins any political party within his term, then a resignation must be submitted within 7 days.
The Anti Defection law stipulates actions that are to be taken in the instance that elected officials to Parliament, City Councils, Atoll Councils, Island Councils or Women's Development Committees leave the party they were elected through.
The law also outlines the holding of bi-elections in the instance the seats are vacated.
The aim of this law is to increase public confidence in elected officials, to ensure elected officials maintain alliances to the political ideologies they got elected through, and to prevent elected officials from being susceptible to undue political or financial influences.
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