Notice sent to Nasheed regarding no confidence motion

Notice has been sent to Speaker of Parliament, former president Mohamed Nasheed, on Thursday, regarding the no-confidence motion that was submitted against him.

The motion to dismiss Nasheed from his position as Speaker was submitted on Monday with the signatures of 49 of MP from main ruling MDP. 

Parliament's secretariat confirmed that the notice regarding the no-confidence motion was sent to Nasheed and MPs who submitted the motion this morning.

In the midst of preparations to file the second no-confidence motion, Nasheed said it would be difficult to accept the new motion in light of the withdrawal of the first no-confidence motion submitted against him in the last session. According to Nasheed, only one no-confidence motion can be accepted per session.

MDP's PG Leader Mohamed Aslam, on Monday, refuting the remarks, said Nasheed cannot claim this, adding it is the Secretary-General who will make a decision on the motion. He expressed confidence in the Secretary-General to make the right decision.

The no-confidence motion initially submitted last June with the signatures of 56 MPs was withdrawn by MDP.

Aslam said the no-confidence motion was withdrawn because it was being leveraged as an argument to halt parliament. Hence, he said the motion was withdrawn, especially since there were important matters pending in the parliament. 

Last session, no-confidence motions against Nasheed and Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla were moved simultaneously which brought the Parliament to a deadlock. As a result, the parliament broke for recess without completing many impending works. 

There are currently 56 MDP MPs in parliament. For a no-confidence motion against the Speaker of Parliament to be passed, requires 43 MPs' votes.