Nihan: Still the Parliament’s Majority Leader

Ruling, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) is still the political party with the single most number of parliamentary seats, and I remain the Parliament’s Majority Leader, says the leader of PPM’s parliamentary group, Vilimale’ MP Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik.

The opposition claims PPM has lost its majority with the Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate 12 parliamentarians, and that Nihan is no longer the Parliament’s Majority Leader.

Speaking in response to a question by a reporter at PPM’s press conference this Wednesday, Nihan said PPM remained the political party with the single most number of parliamentary seats. And that that automatically made the PPM parliamentary group leader the Parliament’s Majority Leader.

“The Parliament’s regulations states that the [parliamentary group] leader of the party with the most members is automatically Parliament’s Majority Leader,” said Nihan.

Nihan said the Speaker of the Parliament delivered the latest updates on the Parliament to the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader. He said he received regular updates on the work of the Parliament from Speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed.

“So I think the Minority Leader [Hinnavaru MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih] isn’t listening,” said Nihan.

He said the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) would just barely win the Parliament majority if 15 of PPM’s parliamentarians joined MDP.

Nihan was also questioned regarding his comments to media last Tuesday that the Parliament sessions will begin once the 15-day State of Emergency is over.

Reporters questioned Nihan’s authority to make such a comment.

“I can share my opinion, right? I wasn’t given the authority to make the comment via some post at the Parliament Secretariat. Any MP can make a guess,” said Nihan, in response to the questions.

Nihan also said that some opposition MPs were attempting to enter the Parliament building despite it being shut down just to have their picture taken.

“They did that just for the sake of the pictures, for the publicity,” said Nihan.

He said there were ways to submit concerns to the Parliament, without making a physical appearance at the Parliament.