Constitutional amendment to limit number of parliamentarians lacks support

A constitutional amendment that would limit the number of elected parliamentarians to 77 was opposed by a majority of legislators today, reports local media.

Previously, the Elections Commission noted that eight additional members of parliament would need to be elected next year, which would increase the total number of parliamentarians from 77 to 85.

Maldivian law stipulates that one administrative constituency must be designated for every 5,000 citizens, while atolls containing less than 5,000 inhabitants must be represented by two MPs, according to Haveeru.

However, the amendment proposed by Maldivian Development Alliance (MDA) MP Ahmed Amir would maintain the same number of constituencies in the Maldives as were established in May 2009.

During today’s parliamentary debate on the amendment, MPs objected that political party members and their leaders had not been consulted before the amendment was submitted.

Conversely, Amir claimed that MPs, lawyers and other experts from various sectors had been consulted. He alleged that increasing the number of MPs will create “various challenges” in light of the Maldives’ current financial and economic state.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs who opposed the amendment noted that amending the constitution during a period of political turmoil would be “unwise”.

“A time of political turmoil is not the time to take apart the constitution,” said MP Moosa Manik. “This should be done through dialogue between political leaders.”

The basic salary for MPs is MVR 62,500 (US$4061) monthly, thus eight additional parliamentarians would cost the state 500,000 MVR (US$32,489) monthly, according to Haveeru.

The parliamentary debate on the amendment is ongoing.

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