Opposition urges international community to endorse Maseeh's no-confidence motion
Monday’s motion was backed by all the political parties that had signed the coalition agreement in March
Supporters of the motion against Maseeh outside the parliament on 27th March, 2017
The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has released a statement on Monday after 45 parliamentarians filed another no-confidence motion against parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh, urging the international community to support the ‘wish of the people’.
“We urge the independent institutions, the judiciary, security services, our international development partners to respect the wish of the people and the decision of the majority of the parliament” the statement signed by MDP’s international spokesperson, Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, said.
Monday’s motion was backed by all the political parties that had signed the coalition agreement in March, including members of the Progressive Party of Maldives – of which one faction is loyal to incumbent President Abdulla Yameen.
11 parliamentarians aligned with the ruling party had reportedly signed the motion of no-confidence.
“President Abdulla Yameen was elected on a mandate to govern through a coalition government. However, the support extended to President Yameen by his coalition partners including his own party has now been withdrawn. In the recent Local Council Elections, President Yameen’s faction of PPM won only 27% of the vote” the statement further said, while highlighting that parliamentarians need to be able to carry out their constitutionally mandated duties, which speaker Abdulla Maseeh has allegedly been an obstacle to.
The opposition had filed a no-confidence motion against Maseeh twice before. While the first failed under contentious circumstances, the other was deterred through an expedited amendment that lifted the number of signatures required to submit a no-confidence motion.
MDP’s statement had described Maseeh to be a rubber-stamp to the government and a ‘Yameen crony’.
