Case claiming two incumbent presidents rejected again

The constitutional case submitted by the opposition PPM-PNC coalition to the Supreme Court claiming two incumbent presidents have been rejected by the court again.  

The case was submitted to the Supreme Court on February 27^th; an effort spearheaded by Ahmed Sidheeq, a member of PPM’s legal team.

The case was thrown out of the court after the registrar’s decision against accepting the case on March 7^th. Subsequently, a review of the registrar’s decision was requested on March 20^th.

Supreme Court judges, unanimously, ruled on Thursday that there were no legal grounds to change the registrar’s decision based on the lack of legally debatable points presented by the complainant.

Vice President Faisal Naseem had taken oath to temporarily assume presidency while President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had been under anesthesia for a thyroid surgery last year.

President Solih resumed office after the three-hour surgery. President’s Office said at the time that it was done after informing the Parliament Speaker in writing, as required under Article 123 of the Constitution.

Opposition coalition, in their case, had requested the Supreme Court to interpret the article in order to establish whether VP Faisal had to take the oath citing many legal discrepancies. They also described the ordeal as a conspiracy against President Solih by Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed in collaboration with the chief justice. 

They have also refused to believe President Solih is the incumbent Maldivian president.