After weeks of political manoeuvring, the no-confidence motion against Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has been dismissed claiming that it was submitted against the parliamentary procedure.
The Parliament, which has been grappling with a deadlock for weeks, reconvened on Sunday following the Supreme Court’s ruling. This ruling clarified that the Parliament’s interpretation of the Standing Orders was flawed and affirmed that legislative proceedings should continue without obstruction. The deadlock was primarily attributed to the absence of Deputy Speaker at several scheduled sittings.
During Sunday’s sitting, presided over by Hassan Afeef of The Democrats, the party strategically raised multiple points of order, effectively stalling the proceedings. Ali Azim, the Minority Leader, argued that the submission of the no-confidence motion against Nasheed did not comply with the established parliamentary procedures. This contention was supported by other MPs from The Democrats.
In response , MP Afeef upheld the point of order raised by Azim and subsequently declared the no-confidence motion invalid. He instructed the MPs to resubmit the motion in accordance with the parliamentary procedures.
Despite attempts by the Secretary-General to seek clarification on the matter from the interim Speaker Afeef promptly concluded the sitting, resulting in the parliament secretariat scheduling an impromptu second sitting at 11:30 a.m. to debate on the motion.
The second session was presided over by Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla, whose ailment resulted in the deadlock. Within five minutes, Eva concluded the sitting, declaring that the motion had already been decided at the earlier sitting, thus there was no further action to be taken.