A WAR of words has erupted between sitting MPs over alleged ‘shadow deals’ as the nation gears up for the next month’s national elections.
Members of the Democratic Progress Tribune – which include outgoing first deputy speaker Abdulnabi Salman – and MP Sayed Falah Hashem rejected a statement made by their colleague MP Yousif Zainal regarding their position on the Value Added Tax (VAT).
The GDN previously reported that 23 MPs voted in favour of amending the 2018 VAT law to double the tax, 15 rejected it (including Mr Salman and Mr Hashem), one abstained (Mr Zainal) and one MP was absent.
“In Parliament there are political duties which include a distribution of roles,” said Mr Zainal.
“As a bloc, we agreed that Mr Salman and Mr Hashem will vote against VAT and I will abstain from voting.
“It is merely a political tactic – nothing more and nothing less.”
However, the Democratic Progress Tribune issued a statement yesterday rejecting Mr Zainal’s claims regarding a distribution of roles as a political tactic.
Mr Salman and Mr Hashem highlighted that their position was in line with their declared political convictions and is consistent with their political position that refuses to impose any financial burden on citizens.
“While we strongly reject what was stated by our colleague, we must make it clear to everyone that our principled agreement when forming a progressive bloc at the beginning of the fifth legislative term was based mainly on the unity of our political positions on several basic issues that represent the core of our electoral programme,” they said in the statement.
“We gave our colleague – Mr Zainal – enough flexibility without violating the general and basic lines of the bloc’s programme on which we ran in the 2018 elections.
“Therefore, his position on refusing or accepting the project to increase VAT expresses his opinion alone and doesn’t concern us.
“He has the right to defend his position different from the position of the bloc – which is known to the public – and we do not bear under any justification the consequences of his statements.”
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