Malé, Maldives – Maldivian political parties, Adhaalath Party (AP) and Maldives Reform Movement (MRM), today, denied agreement to hold a referendum to change the governance system of Maldives from presidential to parliamentary.
The President of the ruling party, Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), Mohamed Nasheed earlier today said that at the formation of the incumbent ruling coalition, all political parties except Jumhooree Party (JP) agreed to hold a referendum to change the governance system.
However, both MRM and AP have refuted this Nasheed’s statement. While MDP has collected over 50,000 votes for a petition to hold a governance system change referendum, the leader of MRM and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom confirmed that MRM has always supported a presidential system and assured that there have never been any agreements to support otherwise.
Adhaalath Party also asserted that there is no mention of a referendum to change governance systems in the coalition manifesto, nor any such agreements.
While there are two manifestos, one with a proposed governance change referendum in 2020 and one without, President’s Office Spokesperson Mabrook Azeez clarified that the manifesto followed at present is the incumbent government coalition manifesto. This manifesto does not include any clause regarding the Parliamentary system or governance change referendum.
