Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Can the new President Appoint Fresh Members to Majlis?



Questions are arising regarding the appointment of President's Members to the People's Majlis. For example, should appointed members continue in the transitional Majlis? Can the members appointed by the outgoing President be replaced by the incoming President?


On the first question, some are of the opinion that appointed members must not have a place in the Majlis anymore. The opposite view is that the Constitution requires the existing Majlis to continue till elections could be held under the new Constitution. According to this view, continuation of the current Majlis implies continuation of its existing structure –which includes appointed members. Article 294 (a) of the Constitution reads:


"The People's Majlis in existence at the commencement of this Constitution shall continue until such time as the first elections of the People's Majlis under this Constitution are held, and election of members and assumption of office by the members."


Now we come to the next question. Can members appointed by Gayoom be replaced by Anni? Those who argue against it say that the same members sitting now will have to continue unchanged. However, there is a counter argument against that. When an elected
seat falls vacant there is a provision to fill the vacancy. So it is quite certain that the Constitution does not preclude replacing current members. Here is the relevant article of the Constitution:


Article 294 (c): "Whenever there is a vacancy among the members of the People's Majlis, and there is a period of six months between the date of the vacancy and the first sitting of the first elected People's Majlis, an election shall be held to elect a member to the vacancy."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

And the third question is: Anni ves valu dhoroashin menbarun vadhdhaane tha?

Anonymous said...

The members are appointed by the President implying the incumbent President. The members can be changed by the incumbent President and it has been done often enough in the past. After being sworn in, the incumbent President would be HE Mohamed Nasheed. therefore the members representing the President would be and should be representing Mohamed Nasheed. As such, he should and must replace the current members.

So the question can the members appointed by the outgoing President be replaced by the incoming President can certainly be answered in the affirmative. YES

Whether this is ethically right or not is another matter

Anonymous said...

Its about gaining the majority in the parliament. DRP will campaign against replacing the current 8 unelected members so they can pass bill such as the current 'former presidents' incentives' bill without a glitch. MDP will want to change the 8 members so DRPs majority will no longer be there.
I see no reason why Anni cant change the his parliament members.

Unknown said...

I voted for Anni to bring about democracy. Therefore i argue that the new president should dismiss the presidential appointees which he has the power to do, and keep the seats vacant until the Majlis reconvene under the new constitution. This is justified by the 6 months the constitution grants for reelection of a vacant seat since the Majlis will reconvene without the presidential appointees nest February.

I call the bloggers to advocate and call to the right thing to be done.

Anonymous said...

We have a presidential system of government.All the 3 powers of the govt. are separate and independent of one another. So, My opinion is that the executive branch of govt shud not be interfering with the legislative branch by attempting to dismiss MPs. Even under the previous constitution, the PRESIDENT DID NOT HAVE POWERS OF DISMISSAL OF MPs.HE WAS ALLOWED TO APPOINT. But in the past Gayoom appointed and dismimissed 'his' MPs whenever he wanted.That was not constitutional. But then Gayoom was not only President but also the Supreme Justice of the country and therefore was the final authority concerning interpretation of the constitution. Anyway, let us see what the court says when Prez Anni dismisses the MPs.

Anonymous said...

When MDP came out on the streets they were vehement that these Presidents members be thrown out bcos it gives Qayyoom majority.Now they r in the govt they want to keep them to have a mojority.I hope Maldivians will realise how they have been fooled to grab power.Its no different from Golhaabhoaa.This is just the beginning