President will not ratify bill preventing former presidents from contesting in parliamentary elections

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has assured the amendment to the constitution seeking to prevent former presidents from contesting in parliamentary elections will not be ratified, even if passed by the Parliament. The president made the statement in the wake of a proposed amendment to the constitution seeking to prevent former presidents from competing in the parliamentary elections.

Answering the question posed by the journalist, President Solih assured the bill will not be ratified even if the parliament passes the bill. In this regard, the president reiterated he will not ratify any bill that will snatch the basic and political rights of an individual.

Without withdrawing the initial amendment to the Parliamentary Elections Act, Latheef proposed an amendment to add a point to Article 73(a) of the constitution, which states the requirements of a person elected to Parliament. A person elected to be a member of Parliament shall be qualified if he/she is a citizen of the Maldives, is not a citizen of a foreign country, is a Muslim and a follower of a Sunni school of Islam, has attained the age of eighteen years and is of sound mind, according to Article 73 (a) of the constitution. An addition has been proposed to the requirements that a person elected to Parliament must not be a former president.

The amendment was submitted to the Parliament at a time former President Mohamed Nasheed has begun campaigning for a parliament seat.