State of Emergency motion cannot be passed without President Solih’s consent: MP Azim

Parliament member for Henveiru central constituency and Maldivian Democratic Party's parliamentary group leader, Ali Azim | Photo: Majlis

Male’, Maldives – MDP Parliamentary group leader and MP for Medhu Henveiru Constituency, Ali Azim states that the motion to impose State of Emergency in Maldives cannot be passed without discussing it with the President of Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

A motion was presented to the National Council of MDP last night, by the ruling party’s President and current Speaker, Mohamed Nasheed to impose State of Emergency in Maldives. It was passed with the vote of 39 members, out of the 43 members present in the council last night.

The motion presented by Speaker Nasheed states that based on the information given by Commissioner of Police and Prosecutor General on Saturday night, ruling party MDP believes that the government must announce State of Emergency in Maldives. Speaker Nasheed added in his motion that MDP agrees to give Police the opportunity to arrest the terrorists in Maldives by announcing a State of Emergency.

However, MP Azim stated last night that it is unjustifiable to talk about such a motion, without discussing it with President Solih, while imposing it is lawfully in the hands of him.

President Solih has the right to impose State of Emergency in the country. So before presenting it to the MDP National Council, it should be first discussed with President Solih.

MP for Media Henveiru Constituency, Ali Azim

MP Azim stated that it would have been accepted for MDP Council to pass the motion without the President’s consent if the President was of another political party. However, noting that simply because President Solih is from MDP, it is not acceptable for the party to ignore the law.

Although the MDP Council passed such a motion, the law states that only the President has the right to announce State of Emergency in the country. However, since the motion to impose State of Emergency has been passed by the National Council of MDP, the government will be more pressurized into officially announce State of Emergency in the country.