News

MDP agrees to expedite debate on referendum motion

Published

2 weeks ago

18/09/2023

Parliament speaker, former president Mohamed Nasheed says the MDP, which holds a supermajority at the Parliament, has agreed to fast-track the resolution submitted by the Democrats, which calls for a constitutional referendum to decide on changing the system of governance in Maldives from a presidential system to a parliamentary system, before the end of September.

The resolution was submitted by Hulhudhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb on September 12.

It calls for a referendum to be held before September 30 – which is when the second round of voting in the presidential election is slated for.

Ilyas said he decided to submit the resolution based on the experience from the administrations that have come since 2008. He said that the time has come to put the question of a system change before the people.

At Monday’s parliamentary sitting, Nasheed, who himself is a member of the Democrats, said the MDP’s parliamentary group leader, North Hithadhoo MP Mohamed Aslam had agreed to expedite the debate on the resolution.

He said that Aslam made the decision based on a request from the Democrats’ parliamentary group leader, Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim.

“The Democrats’ parliamentary group leader has said that the majority leader has agreed to fast-track this. So, we will conduct this as soon as possible,” he said.

He said that the preliminary debate on the resolution will be scheduled “soon.”

Azim told Sun that resolutions submitted to the Parliament can be expedited, if both the majority leader and the minority leader are in agreement.

He said that both parties have come to an agreement to expedite the debate.

“They agreed to expedite the debate. They did not agree to support the resolution,” he said.

Democrats, which placed third in the first round of the presidential election with seven percent of votes, has been courted by both the MDP and the opposition PPM-PNC for a potential coalition deal for the runoff.

But the Democrats set a key condition for any deal; support for a constitutional referendum to change the system of governance in Maldives from the current presidential system, to a parliamentary system.

Democrats want the referendum held before September 25th.

Maldives held a constitutional referendum on a system change in 2007. The majority decided to stick with the presidential system. Former president Nasheed and Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom had advocated for a parliamentary system, back when the vote was held.

Differences in opinion regarding a system change had been the main point of conflict between Nasheed and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, which led to members loyal to Nasheed leaving the MDP to form the Democrats.

Source(s): sun.mv

News

Fayyaz: We have no agreement with the Democrats

Published

4 hours ago

04/10/2023

MDP’s Chairperson, Fayyaz Ismail has said today that even if the Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed, has said that MDP has agreed to the referendum for changing the governing system, there has been no such agreement between MDP and the Democrats.

Heading today’s Parliamentary sitting, Nasheed said that MDP has informed the Democrats that they will give their full cooperation to the referendum.

“As far as I know, MDP asked the Democrats to not support any party and if they do so MDP will cooperate with the referendum,” Nasheed said.

Speaking to Sun, Fayyaz said, in response to Nasheed, that there is no agreement between MDP and the Democrats and that Nasheed was adding to the truth. He also said that he does not know any reason for Nasheed to do so.

“That is not correct information. I don’t know why Nasheed said that,” Fayyaz said.

Nasheed, who left MDP, after remaining the leader of the party for many years, due to issues between President Solih and himself, said today that he can no longer trust MDP.

After MDP’s primary elections, Nasheed refused to support President Solih. When the relationship between them both soured further and the people who supported Nasheed left MDP and established a new political party called the Democrats.

After the Election Commission registered the party, Nasheed also left MDP and signed up for the Democrats.

The interim council of the Democrats, who received seven percent in the first round of the presidential elections, presented both of the two main political parties with heavy conditions. However, the interim Chairperson of Democrats, Hassan Latheed, even said that they decided not to support either party in the second round as both parties refused to agree to the conditions.

Source(s): sun.mv

News

Chinese leader congratulates Muizzu, seeks to reinforce ties

Published

1 day ago

03/10/2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Dr. Mohamed Muizzu on winning the Maldives presidential election on Tuesday, expressing keenness in deepening the age-old ties between Maldives and China.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Chinese ambassador Wang Lixin shared a message sent by Xi, congratulating the Maldivian president-elect.

In the message, Xi noted that the friendly relations between Maldives and China date back to ancient times.

“China and Maldives are not only good friends of sincerity, mutual trust and mutual assistance, but also good partners for common development and prosperity,” he said.

Xi said that he attached great importance to the enhancement of Maldives-China relations, and expressed keenness in working with Muizzu on that front.

“I’m ready to work with you to carry forward the traditional friendship and deepen practical cooperation so as to promote China-Maldives future-oriented all-round friendly and cooperative partnership with more progress,” he said.

Maldives and China established official diplomatic relations on April 15, 1972. The relations between the two countries had seen significant enhancement during the first PPM administration from 2013-2018.

Muizzu, from the PPM-PNC, won the presidential election runoff on Saturday with 54 percent of votes, beating MDP’s Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the incumbent president, who won 46 percent.

Source(s): sun.mv

World

Saudi Arabia hosts China-Arab publishing cooperation forum

Published

1 day ago

03/10/2023

RIYADH, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — The China-Arab States Publishing Cooperation and Exchange Forum was held on Sunday in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.

Under the theme of “Deepening China-Arab Publishing Cooperation and Exchanges, Promoting Mutual Learning between Chinese and Arab Civilizations,” publishers from China and Arab countries reviewed their cooperation in translation, publishing, copyright trade, book fair platforms and online publishing.

The summit also paved the way for a translation project of 100 Chinese and Arab classics, exploring the establishment of a China-Saudi Arabia online publishing exchange mechanism, jointly expanding the platform for international cooperation, and promoting mutual learning between Chinese and Arab civilizations.

The event was attended by a senior official with the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), representatives from the Arab Publishers Association and the Saudi Scientific Research and Knowledge Exchange Center, as well as more than 100 Chinese and Arab publishers, scholars, experts and writers.

Source(s): Xinhua