Parliament Speaker and former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, has said it is important to amend the presidential election regulations to a first-past-the-post electoral system in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins even if the top candidate gets less than 50 percent.
However, Nasheed said while the system must be changed for MDP to remain in power, it must be applied if the candidate receives over 30 percent of the total votes. Moreover, if no candidate succeeds in obtaining the minimum required percentage, a second-round of voting must be held between the top two candidates.
Nasheed also expressed the importance of deciding on the number of judges who sit on the Supreme Court bench. He also said it is an obstruction to the path to justice the way the Supreme Court bench changes with each administration.
As the main spearhead of advocating to change the presidential system to a parliamentary system, Nasheed claimed that MDP would always advocate changing the country’s current government system.