The parliamentary session scheduled for Tuesday could not proceed as planned due to the absence of a member available to preside over the session.
The main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is actively pursuing a no-confidence motion against Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed and Depputy Speaker Eva Abdulla. While Eva's case was initiated first, the 14-day notice period issued to Eva to respond to the motion against her has expired. However, 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, which also requires reconstitution, determines the timeframe for such motions.
Following discussions, the no-confidence motion against Eva was placed on the agenda for Tuesday's session. However, when the session began, no one was present to preside over it. The Secretary General of the Parliament, Fathimath Niusha, made a statement and said Speaker Nasheed was asked by a letter on Monday to preside over Tuesday's session. However, Nasheed had responded via a letter that he would refrain from presiding over the session until the Parliament decides on the no-confidence motion against him.
“Therefore, I would like to inform the Honorable Members that today's session cannot be conducted until a decision is taken on the presidency, ” said Niusha.
In the absence of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Vilifushi MP Hassan Afeef has been presiding over sessions at the request of the Speaker.
Opposition MPs argue that the Parliament has reached a deadlock for two reasons. They said there is no constitutional provision on how to proceed when no-confidence motions against both the speaker and the Deputy Speaker are submitted simultaneously. They also believe the changes required to Parliament committees following the recent resignation of 13 MDP MPs from the party have contributed to the stalemate, they believe.
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 by reconstituting the General Committee. However, pro-government MPs said there are no legal obstacles in moving the no-confidence motion against the Speaker and Vice-Speaker at the same time and noted that the no-confidence motion against Eva was initiated before the no-confidence motion against Speaker Nasheed. According to MDP, the Speaker of Parliament can preside over Eva's case, and there are no legal obstacles to it.
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 at a press conference held Monday, 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 opposition's 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.
