Parliament on Wednesday passed a resolution to hold a public referendum on the system of government before October 30.
A report compiled by a full-house committee that studied the resolution proposed by Hulhudhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb - presidential candidate of The Democrats - was passed with 35 votes in favour from the 87-member parliament. No MP voted against the resolution.
Work on the resolution began after discussions with the leaders of political parties represented in parliament. All parties agreed to move ahead with the referendum.
The timeframe proposed for the vote when Ilyas initially submitted the resolution was before November 30. The period was changed to before October 30 after the committee accepted an amendment proposed by Ilyas.
The Democrats have been advocating for changing to a parliamentary system. The main reason offered by the party is the need to form coalitions as presidential candidates are unable to win a majority of votes. But coalitions are a feature of parliamentary systems, the party notes.
The resolution was passed after The Democrats - whose candidate finished third in the first round of the presidential election - proposed holding a referendum as a condition for supporting the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in the second round.
The MDP is the majority party in parliament with 57 MPs and The Democrats is the minority party formed with 13 MPs from a breakaway faction of the MDP.
In the public referendum held in 2007 to choose the system of government, Nasheed and the MDP supported a parliamentary system. Nasheed also spoke in favor of the parliamentary system after he was elected president in 2008.
The MDP also proposed changing the system of government ahead of the 2018 presidential election. But it was not included in the manifesto at the time after disagreements with coalition partners.
