MDP decides to initiate dismissal of Nasheed as speaker

Main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) parliamentary group, on Tuesday, announced their decision to initiate the dismissal of Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed.

In a parliamentary group meeting held following days of complaints by MDP members over how the parliament is chaired, the parliamentary group decided to dismiss Nasheed from his post as the parliament speaker. Efforts to secure enough signatures to submit a no-confidence motion against Nasheed have been initiated subsequent to the decision.

Thirty-six members out of the 41 members who attended the parliamentary group meeting voted they had no confidence in Nasheed.

Negative sentiments towards Nasheed were exacerbated following his decision to conclude Tuesday’s sitting, which slowed down the no-confidence motion submitted against Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath by an alliance formed by opposition parties over the border dispute between Maldives and Mauritius.

The remaining portion of the debate in Riffath’s no-confidence motion was on the agenda of Tuesday’s sitting. However, a privileged motion was submitted by Faresmaathoda MP Hussain Mohamed Latheef from the opposition PPM-PNC coalition accusing Riffath of undermining the parliament’s powers through his written response to the no-confidence motion.

Nasheed, who was presiding over Tuesday’s sitting, said the motion can either be submitted to the floor or directly to the Privileges Committee. However, he underscored efforts to re-establish parliamentary committees remain incomplete at the moment as a result of which there is no Privileges Committee at the moment.

As a result, a vote was taken on whether the motion will be accepted for debate or not. MDP lawmakers, who hold the majority in the parliament, voted to kick out the motion. Both sides began exchanging heated arguments following this. Subsequently, the sitting lost order. Speaker Nasheed called for a recess. However, the parliament failed to resume after the recess.

MDP has 55 lawmakers in the parliament apart from Nasheed. The votes of 43 lawmakers are required to pass a no-confidence motion. Therewith, if MDP desires, they can easily dismiss him from the position.