Nasheed no-confidence motion scheduled for Sunday

The Parliament has scheduled the no-confidence motion against Speaker Mohamed Nasheed for Sunday, after the Supreme Court found the decision of the legislative body to halt the motion unlawful.

The motion was initially tabled for October 26, after the 14-day notice period. But Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla, Nasheed’s cousin and fellow Democrats member, called in sick all through last week, thwarting the motion.

Article 205 of the Parliament’s Standing Orders dictate that in situations where a no-confidence motion has been submitted against the Speaker, sitting must be presided over by the Deputy Speaker. It does not provide explicit instructions on what to do in a situation where the Deputy Speaker is indisposed of.

The MDP lodged a constitutional case with the Supreme Court over the issue on October 29.

This week, Eva recused herself from chairing sittings, citing the case submitted to the Supreme Court. And the Parliament decided against tabling the motion until the court issues its judgement.

The Supreme Court delivered its judgement on Thursday. It decided that the Parliament can process the motion without Eva, and found the decision to halt the motion unconstitutional.

Nasheed has hinted that he will continue to thwart the motion.

Shorting after the court issued its judgement, Nasheed sent a text to the Parliament’s Whatsapp group saying that the court case had thwarted the motion for five days, and that he believes he can continue to thwart it until President-elect Dr. Mohamed Muizzu takes office on November 17.

The MDP had originally submitted no-confidence motions against both Nasheed – the party’s former leader - and Eva earlier this year. The motion against Eva was submitted with the endorsement on 50 MPs in May, and the motion against Nasheed followed, with the endorsement of 54 MPs, in June.

But the MDP withdrew the motions in September, while the party was engaged in negotiations with the Democrats – the party to which both Nasheed and Eva belong – for the presidential runoff election.

The recent motion against Nasheed was submitted with the endorsement of 49 MPs on October 9.

MDP – which holds a supermajority at the Parliament with 56 MPs – has issued a three-line whip to pass the motion.