The Parliament has rejected a bill to amend the constitution by Hulhudhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb of The Democrats

While introducing the bill, Ilyas Labeeb said the amendments are aimed at curbing the increase in the number of members at the end of each term of parliament and to provide relief to the government's growing budgetary power.

One of the reasons for the amendments is the inclusion of members in parliament to represent the entire country instead of the smaller constituencies currently represented in parliament, he said.

Currently, the Parliament has 87 members, and the Parliament is formed to represent every 5,000 people. Therefore, the number of members of the Parliament increases at the end of every term of the Parliament at the end of the election.

Ilyas Labeeb proposed to keep the number of MPs at 76.

"We are proposing to elect 55 members from atolls to the Parliament. In addition to this, there are very few women members in the parliament. It is difficult for women members to come to parliament. Therefore, we have decided to reserve two seats for women in different parts of the country, especially north, west, central and south. Only women can be elected to these constituencies. So, eight women will be accommodated. In addition to this, we are also suggesting to amend the constitution so that even those with disabilities can be represented in parliament by two elected parties," Ilyas said.

Ilyas also said that in parliamentary elections, 11 members appointed by political parties in accordance with the law will be represented as members of parliament as per the percentage of votes received by political parties.

Of the 63 members present in the house, only 12 voted to accept the bill. The bill was rejected after 38 members voted against it.