The manner in which the no-confidence motion against parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh was voted on is indicative of the ruling coalition’s lack of trust in its own members, said Jumhooree Party leader Qasim Ibrahim.
MP Ibrahim, who had once served as parliament speaker himself, said at a party gathering at Kunooz, JP’s primary assembly site, roll call votes are not the norm in parliament, and in fact has been unlawful since the establishing of an electronic voting system.
Parliament sealed off, prevented public access. Gov asks for a roll call; direct contravention of Standing Orders. Exactly why #No2Maseeh
— Eva Abdulla (@evattey) March 27, 2017
Govt tampered with the Majlis voting system & are pushing for a roll call vote. Majlis SG must fix system; ensure vote proceeds as per rules
— Mohamed Nasheed (@MohamedNasheed) March 27, 2017
He highlighted that a roll call vote has not been taken for the past decade.
The representative of his native island Maamigili further said that bringing this lack of trust into public light is a great achievement.
“There have been no-confidence votes against ministers, auditor generals, and chief justices and they have always been taken through this electronic system” MP Ibrahim said “What happened [on Monday]? The public does not need me to spell it out for them, they can see it clearly, they can see that the government does not trust MPs aligned with them to uphold their values”.
Further, he expressed that parliament speaker Maseeh surviving the motion against him is a hindrance to attaining justice and rights of freedom for the people – a fight, MP Ibrahim said, was ongoing.
