There are no legal grounds to withdraw the no-confidence motion against the Parliament Speaker, Mohamed Nasheed, and the Deputy Speaker, Eva Abdulla, the main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has said.
The MDP is actively pursuing a no-confidence motion against both Eva and Nasheed. While the 14-day notice period issued to Eva to respond to the motion against her has expired, the motion is yet to be placed on the Parliament's agenda, causing dissatisfaction among pro-government MPs over the delay.
The Parliament had earlier said that the current no-confidence motions would require reconstituting the committees, as the General Committee determines the timeframe for such motions. Therefore, the reconstitution of the General Committee is also necessary.
At a press conference held by MPs representing opposing parties on Monday, they called on the MDP to withdraw one of the two no-confidence motions in order to break the current parliamentary deadlock and resume Parliament sessions. The anti-government MPs argue that the Parliament has been stalled as there is no constitutional provision on how to proceed when no-confidence motions against both the speaker and the Deputy Speaker are submitted simultaneously.
MDP's Parliamentary Group held its own press conference on Monday to address the stalemate. Speaking at the press conference, MDP PG's Media Coordinator and Velidhoo MP Mohamed Abdullah Shafeeq (Mode) told reporters that there is no legal issue in moving the no-confidence motion against the Speaker and Vice-Speaker at the same time. Mode said the motion against Deputy Speaker Eva was initiated before the no-confidence motion against Speaker Nasheed. Therefore, the Speaker of Parliament can preside over Eva's case, and there is no legal obstacle to that, he stressed.
Mode criticized President Nasheed and Eva for recusing themselves from presiding over Parliament sessions until their no-confidence motions were concluded, effectively bringing the Parliament to a standstill. He emphasized that while two-thirds of the members of parliament have signed the impeachment motion against both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, the only viable option for them is to resign.
"If you are doing things in a democratic manner and following the world's best practice, you should resign and continue as MPs," Mode said.
The opposing parties have alleged that the efforts to reconstitute the parliamentary committees following the recent resignation of 13 MDP MPs from the party are not fruitful due to MDP remaining unyielding on the issue and their unwillingness to cooperate.
Responding to the allegation, MDP PG's Deputy Leader and Alifushi MP Mohamed Rasheed Hussain (Bigey) said the opposition members were making untrue statements. He said the MDP has already given up some of its slots in the Finance Committee and the Economic Committee in their efforts to continue the Parliament by accommodating the oppositions' requests. He further said the opposition members had demanded the inclusion of all parties in the general committee, a demand to which MDP has agreed. However, neither the Constitution nor the Rules of Parliament require all members to be included in the General Committee, Bigey clarified.
