Colombo, March 27 (NIA) – A crucial vote seeking to impeach Maldives Speaker Abdulla Maseeh, was defeated in Parliament on Monday with 48 MPs voting against when the vote was taken up.
The no confidence motion against the Speaker was bought in by the opposition, who were seeking to win a majority in Parliament.
With the Speaker unable to caste his own vote, the no-confidence motion required 42 votes to be approved or rejected. The ruling Progressive Party of Maldives has 48 members of parliament – but it had lost four MPs who had previously announced their plans to join the opposition.
Former Maldives President, Mohamed Nasheed who lives in exile in Britain, signed a pact with three other political parties over the weekend in order to impeach the Speaker and work together in the future.
The new alliance was signed between former President Abdul Gayoom, who is the half brother of President Abdullah Yameen and is the president of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), President Nasheed who is the president of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Qasim Ibrahim MP who is the leader of Jumhooree Party (JP), and Sheikh Imran who is the President of the Adhaalath Party (AP).
While this was the united opposition’s first crucial vote, MDP Spokesperson Omar Razak told NewsIn.Asia that the vote had been marred in corruption and they would call for a re-vote immediately.
“The MPs were not allowed to use the electronic voting system as the government alleged that the computers were down in Parliament. Therefore MPs had to take a roll call vote but Razak said before that several oppositon MPs were forcibly removed from the House,” Razak said.
“This has not been a fair vote.”
