Nasheed’s resolution on govt. system switch put on hold

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s leader, former president Mohamed Nasheed has decided to put the presentation of his contentious resolution calling for a referendum on switching to a parliamentary system of government on hold.

His resolution called for a referendum on changing to a parliamentary system, and for constitutional amendments if the referendum ends in favor of a parliamentary system.

It also called to declare a prime minister elected among parliamentarians as the head of government, and a president elected through popular vote as head of state.

The resolution also proposed establishing the policy for the national list of parliamentarians, based on the votes political parties receive in parliamentary elections.

Additional proposals on the resolution included having the Cabinet composed of parliamentarians, setting the maximum limit of parliamentarians to 87, limiting the Supreme Court bench to five justices, and changing the composition of the Judicial Service Commission.

Nasheed had been set to present the resolution at the ongoing MDP congress.

His decision to hold off on the resolution follows pushback from prominent MDP leaders, including President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih himself, who said now was not the time for such a big change, and asked Nasheed to withdraw his resolution last week.