Parliamentary Elections – Opposition versus Government

Why should we give our votes to the opposition?

Since the reform agenda began back in 2004, it has always been very interesting to watch parliament sessions due to much of political than the moments of attacks on both side. As a consequence of this effect, it took more than two and half years to complete the necessary amendments to the constitution. At the end, it all became as a new constitution and ratified on 7^th August 2008 by the former President Mr. Gayyoom.

Before the amended constitution came into effect, the parliament consists of all cabinet ministers, special eight appointees by the president and members elected from the each constituent. The infamous 29 members were the most debateable issue in the parliament as it was hard to find a way to get ahead of anything that was against the interest of the government. In fact, almost all the chapters in the amended constitution are exactly as the way intended by the government then.

It was one real instance where if the parliament is under direct control of the government. One may argue that, this is a presidential system and thereby the government has nothing to do with the parliament as in presidential system, the parliament, Judicial and Executive branch are independent. Although this is a Presidential System, the system itself runs much of like a semi parliamentary system. The executive branch mostly requires the blessing from the parliament for almost all the major things. For this motive, the government will always try its best to control the parliament.

For a healthy democracy, a strong opposition is essential to make the government accountable for the people. This could be effectively done only within the parliament as it is one of the independent branches to watch over the government. In a multi-party democracy, the government is likely to face the criticism from the parliament members for various issues, like political, economical and social welfare. Hence, those criticisms play a vital role in implementing the appropriate policies on each sector.

Let’s not all do the same mistake again by giving the majority of the parliament to the ruling party.