The Parliament has approved an amendment to the Constitution which would essentially mean that Parliamentarians who switch parties would now lose their seats.
The anti-defection bill submitted by the MP for Hulhudhoo Constituency Mohamed Shahid was rushed through the legislative stages with the first reading, committee deliberations, debate, and final vote in one day.
Earlier in the day, the House voted to forward the bill to the whole house committee and held an extraordinary session in which the whole house Committee also approved the bill.
The parliament voted on the Committee report with 78 MPs voting in favor of the amendment and only 13 MPs voting against it. All the PNC MPs present at the session voted in favor of the amendment while Speaker of the Parliament Abdul Raheem Abdullah also took part in the vote.
MPs from MDP attempted to disrupt the session today by blowing horns and even unfurled a banner stating that MDP was defending the Constitution but the session proceeded without delay.
Under the amendment, in one of these three cases, the elected members of Parliament will have to give up their seats;
- After contesting and being elected as a member of a particular party, a member leaves that party, or leaves that party and joins another party, or expels that member from the party
- When the member leaves the party he/she currently represents or leaves the party and joins another party, or the party expels the member
- When independently elected members join a political party
