Maldives Democratic Party’s (MDP) Parliamentary Group has requested for a parliament session to be held on Thursday to proceed with the no-confidence motion submitted to remove Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed from his position.
Parliament sessions are not usually held on Thursdays. However, MDP’s Parliamentary Group has said they have put in a request for one for tomorrow.
MDP MPs have protested today as well in parliament calling that they do not have confidence in Nasheed as the Speaker anymore. In the boards used by the protesting parliamentarians, they used a post by Nasheed on X in 2013, the platform previously known as Twitter, stating that the then Speaker Abdula Maseeh was not “the legitimate Speaker of Maldives Parliament.”
Maseeh is no longer the legitimate Speaker of Maldives Parliament and should not represent our Parliament at international meetings. pic.twitter.com/hOSzvNyVHp
— Mohamed Nasheed (@MohamedNasheed) October 4, 2017
The notice period on Nasheed's no-confidence motion, which was signed by 49 MDP lawmakers who hold the majority seats in the parliament, expired on Sunday. Even though the sessions were scheduled to proceed with the motion, Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla called in sick each day as she is currently suffering from dengue.
According to the parliament, today's session was also cancelled as Eva had called in sick today as well, similar to how she could not attend for the past three days. This is because the parliament rules state the Deputy Speaker should preside over the removal of the Speaker.
MDP has filed a case in the Supreme Court against the stalling of parliament on the matter of a a no-confidence motion against Nasheed. The petitioner has sought for the Supreme Court to rule that no other business of parliament can be carried out without taking a decision on the motion to remove Nasheed from his position.
A hearing for this case has been scheduled for the upcoming Monday, November 6.
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