Supreme Court has on Thursday concluded appeal hearings regarding Hanimaadhoo constituency MP Hussain Shahudhee and Ihavandhoo constituency MP Mohamed Abdulla’s dismissal from parliament.
The Supreme Court held their first appeal hearing on Thursday and is to give a verdict in the next hearing.
The two lawmakers were dismissed by the Elections Commission on the grounds of violating a floor-crossing ban, and their attorneys had at Thursday’s hearing noted that the Mohamed and Shahudhee left Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) before the court’s floor-crossing ban on 13 July 2017. As such, while the two lawmakers filed their resignation at PPM and the EC on the 07th and 10th of July respectively, the party’s regulation states that members are considered to be dismissed on the day they hand in their resignation.
Therefore, MPs Shahudhee and Mohamed had left the party before the Supreme Court’s floor-crossing ban on the 13th of July.
EC’s attorney stated that as per commission regulations, members are deemed to have left the party after the commission removes them from the party registry, therefore, Mohamed and Shahudhee had left PPM on the 28th and 29th of November 2017.
The MPs attorneys stated that their dismissal comes after they had signed a petition to impeach Parliament Speaker Abdulla Maseeh on the 03rd of July 2017, which was before the floor-crossing ban on the 13th of July.
Trials for all 12 dismissed lawmakers have been carried out in similar ways.
Quite recently, the EC had reversed its decision to unseat a total of 12 MPs for violating the floor-crossing ban. However, the Supreme Court annulled the Commission’s decision.
Supreme Court has since ruled to re-seat four out of the 12 MPs, they are Thulusdhoo MP Mohamed Waheed Ibrahim, Villingili MP Saud Hussain, Maduvvari MP Mohamed Ameeth, and Dhihdhoo MP Abdul Latheef Mohamed.
With the conclusion of member Shahudhee’s trial on Thursday afternoon, the trials for all dismissed MPs have concluded, and verdicts will be issued in the next hearings.
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