Motion against Minister Mariya has 14 signatures, reveals ex-MP

Former MP Ahmed Mahloof has said the motion to remove Defence Minister Mariya Ahmed Didi from her position is 'a farce' and parliamentarians behind it only managed to attain 14 signatures.

Mahloof tweeted a photograph of the 14 signatures, and highlighted a recent procedural change requiring motions against cabinet ministers to require 42 signatures, made also by lawmakers responsible for the motion against Defence Minister Mariya.

14 MPs signed the motion aginst Defence Minister Mariya

Prior to the change, passed by staunch supporters of former president Abdulla Yameen, only 10 signatures are needed for a vote of no-confidence to be submitted to the People’s Majlis.

Members now part of the ‘Progressive Coalition’, which is the name of the union between President Yameen’s loyalists in the former ruling Progressive Party of Maldives and its offshoot party People’s National Congress, themselves supported a motion in 2017, to require at least half of the 85-seat house, ahead of vote of no-confidence against then People’s Majlis speaker Abdulla Maseeh.

The Progressive Coalition announced that the motion has been submitted at a press conference on Sunday, their members make up the 14 signatories on the motion against Minister Mariya, who was their peer as representative of the north-Mahchangoalhi constituency before being appointed on November 17th, 2018.