Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has praised the parliamentarians for their ‘courage’, calling Monday a ‘victory’ for the opposition.

In a tweet sent out on Monday, the former President said that he salutes the courage of opposition lawmakers ‘in the face of merciless intimidation”.

“It was a victory for us today because we exposed the government’s weakness and sheer desperation,” said Maumoon, adding that they will win the battle.

Maumoon also called Monday’s parliament sitting- where it passed an amendment that no-confidence motions against speakers and their deputy can only be submitted with a minimum of 42 signatures- ‘unconstitutional and null and void from A to Z’.

A few hours after the opposition resubmitted a no-confidence motion against speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed with signatures of 31 parliamentarians, parliament’s general purpose committee had on Sunday passed the motion, sending it to the parliament floor.

The amendment was passed by parliament on Monday, with 46 MPs voting in favor, making the no-confidence motions submitted against the speaker and deputy speaker invalid. A no-confidence motion against deputy speaker Moosa Manik was scheduled for Tuesday.

The opposition maintain that the government’s pursuit of amendments to parliament regulations is ‘a panic measure’ to ensure its ‘grip on the legislature,’ calling the amendment ‘arbitrary and unlawful’.