Parliament's Committee of the Whole House has approved the rushed constitutional amendments from the government after rejecting a proposal to conduct an extensive consultation process.
The bill was presented and debated this morning. The Committee of the Whole House began work at 12:30 pm. It was approved within two hours with 75 votes in favour and 13 against.
Parliament will meet again at 5:30 pm today to pass the bill with the amendments.
Galolhu Dhekunu MP Meekail Ahmed Naseem proposed to conduct an extensive consultation process before taking a vote on the amendments. His proposal was rejected with 69 votes while 11 MPs voted in favour.
The Committee of the Whole House approved the bill with two amendments proposed by Baarashu MP Ibrahim Shujau. His proposal was approved with 83 votes in favour and one abstention.
It was an amendment to include that any change in the territory of Maldives can only be made by a law passed by a three-fourths vote of the total number of members of Parliament. The bill was introduced with a two-thirds majority vote.
When the second proposal was put to the vote, the system had a technical problem and the vote was taken by asking each MP separately. It was passed with the votes of 78 MPs while six voted against and two MPs abstained.
The third proposal was to remove the provision that would make MPs lose their seats. However, the proposal was rejected by 75 votes while 12 votes in favour.
Meanwhile, protests are taking place near the Parliament building as MPs prepare to vote on the constitutional amendments. The opposition is concerned over the amendment that would cause MPs to lose their seats upon floor crossing or expulsion from their political parties.
The sudden amendment comes amid rumours that some MPs from the ruling party were planning to leave the party after the High Court was petitioned to quash part of the Anti-Defection Act that requires MPs to resign for floor crossing.
The current Anti-Defection Act says that if an MP from a political party leaves the party or is expelled, he can go to court to determine whether the decision was made correctly. If the court rules that the dismissal was proper, he must resign from the seat.
However, if the proposed constitutional amendment bill is passed without any changes, MPs will immediately lose their seat upon expulsion or leaving their parties.
In addition, MPs who do not belong to a party must also resign even if they sign up for a party.
