President Mohamed Muizzu and his People’s National Congress on Wednesday further consolidated their position in Parliament with six independent candidates, elected in Sunday’s polls, joining the ruling party.
The pro-China Maldivian president led the People’s National Congress (PNC) to win a landslide 66 out of 93 seats in parliament and its coalition partners Maldives National Party (MNP) and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) won one and two seats, respectively.
The six independent members joined the PNC at a function attended by President Muizzu, who is also the President of the party.
With the addition of the six independents, the PNC-led coalition now has the “super majority” in parliament with 78 seats, much more than two-thirds (63 seats) in the People’s Majlis.
The PNC’s “super majority” in parliamentary elections is being seen as a strong endorsement of his pro-Beijing foreign policy, as both India and China closely watched the outcome of the polls in the strategically-located archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean.
According to the news portal Sun.mv, a spokesperson from the PNC confirmed on Wednesday that six independent candidates joined the PNC on Tuesday.
The MP-elects, who signed with PNC on Tuesday include former party members who lost the PNC primaries held in January. They later ran in the elections as independent candidates, with the government backing their candidacy over that of the ruling party’s own candidates, the report said.
Meanwhile, Hassan Zareer, the incumbent Mathiveri MP, won the 2019 elections on a ticket from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). But he, along with 13 other lawmakers from MDP, defected to PNC after MDP’s Ibrahim Mohamed Solih lost re-election, the portal said.
In this year’s polls, Zareer ran for re-election as an independent candidate, but with the government’s backing.
The move by the six independent MP-elects to join PNC comes after the MDP-majority Parliament passed an anti-defection bill on April 1. The bill, which stipulates that parliamentarians will lose their seat for floor crossing, was signed into law by President Dr Mohamed Muizzu last week, it added.
The new lawmakers to the 20th parliamentary assembly will be sworn in on May 28.
A majority in Parliament would mean that Muizzu’s party has control not just over lawmaking but also over the legislature which ratifies the laws; which till now had two opposing coalitions and saw several instances of a conflict between the government and the legislature.
Muizzu, 45, rode to power last year on the ‘India Out’ plank and since assuming office in November 2023.
Ahead of the parliamentary elections, the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), led by pro-India former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had advocated restoring ties with India. The MDP, however, won only 15 seats.
