MDP and Democrats join forces 'to hold govt accountable'

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Democrats have agreed to join forces in the Parliament to hold the government accountable.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, MDP’s chairperson Fayyaz Ismail said both parties share deep concern over the current administration’s policies, including its foreign policy and economic policy.

He said that the MDP and Democrats have agreed to work together in the Parliament as a responsible opposition to hold the government accountable.

“It is deeply concerning for us to see Maldives’ policies getting shaped in a manner that could create conflict within this region and endanger regional stability and security, and to see all this getting shaped in such a thoughtless manner,” he said.

Fayyaz said that despite the ongoing wars across the globe, the Indian Ocean has been a relatively peaceful region.

But the current Maldivian administration’s policies are undermining this, he said.

Fayyaz said the two parties agreed to work together in the Parliament due to their shared concerns.

“Because the Maldivian Democratic Party and the Democrats share these concerns, we agreed to monitor these things and to work together in the Parliament as a responsible opposition in order to hold the current administration accountable, to keep them in check, and to make the necessary legislative changes in order to improve this country’s future and its democratic future,” he said.

Democrats’ leader, Hassan Saeed said the parties have agreed to submit legislative changes in order to cap the number of parliamentarians as well as political appointees.

The parties filed a request with the Parliament to hold an extraordinary sitting on Tuesday.

The MDP holds a majority in the Parliament with 42 MPs, while Democrats – composed of a faction which broke away from the MDP last year – has 13 MPs. The two parties therefore have 55 MPs between them.

MDP alone had that number, until 13 of its MPs defected to the main ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) in December. Another MP left for PNC this month.

With the changes, the PNC has replaced Democrats as the minority party with 16 MPs.