Government Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza has said that if the Parliament does not cease violating the Constitution, the government will do everything within the legal system in its authority to set the Parliament to right.
Speaking on DhiTV last night, Abbas said that the government cannot give a blind eye to some activities that currently go on in the Parliament. He stressed that no state body should be allowed to violate the law.
Abbas said that the Parliament General Committee’s decision to amend the Standing Order to make the no-confidence vote a secret one, is against the Constitution.
“The Constitution and Parliament regulations clearly state which votes are established as secret votes. The rest of the votes should be open,” he said.
He highlighted that the vote of no-confidence against the Speaker of Parliament was taken openly in the past, and said that the government will not accept changing the rules when it comes to no-confidence votes against the President and a Minister.
He said that the government is arguing against this because this was done against the rules by which Parliament Committees should abide.
Abbas said that this decision was made at a time when several Committee members were out of the country, and accused the remaining members of taking advantage of this situation. The Parliament General Committee decided last Tuesday to establish no-confidence votes against the President and Home Minister as secret votes. The issue was presented to Parliament by Baarah MP Mohamed Shifaz.
The no-confidence motion against the Home Minister has been scheduled for 14 November. No date has been set for voting against the President.
Under the current regulations, open ballots must be conducted for no-confidence motions against the President, Home Minister, or any member of Independent Institutions. Details of this are also published on the Parliament website.