Parliament on Tuesday rejected a no-confidence motion against Home Minister Ali Ihusaan, filed by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). The motion, filed over allegations of falsified membership forms submitted to the Elections Commission (EC) to boost the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), failed as 64 MPs voted to keep him in office, while only 11 MDP MPs supported his removal.
The rejection of the motion is seen as a victory for the ruling PNC, which overwhelmingly opposed the attempt to unseat Ihusaan.
Speaking at Tuesday’s parliament sitting, Ihusaan claimed that falsifying membership forms to register people in political parties had long been a practice under previous governments, instead of directly addressing the allegations against him.
The MDP filed the motion accusing Ihusaan of involvement in filling out membership forms using stolen personal information to register members of the public in the PNC without their knowledge or consent. The motion also alleged his role in contracting out the expat system to Malaysia’s Bestinet Sdn Bhd and interfering in a police investigation.
The motion, signed by all 12 MDP parliamentarians, followed leaked photographs that circulated on social media, showing Ihusaan in a room where Home Ministry employees appeared to be filling out PNC membership forms. Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Ahmed Ali, who is in charge of the Department of National Registration (DNR), was also seen in the images.
Responding to the allegations, Ihusaan back then denied the photos were taken inside the ministry, stating they were captured at the Velana building but not on the Home Ministry floor. “I went there on a day when political employees were working. It was not during official office hours,” Ihusaan claimed.
On the allegation that the DNR supplied public data for the forms, Ihusaan said that the department no longer provides such information. However, he acknowledged that the DNR database had been leaked previously and did not explicitly deny using data from the breach.