Deputy Speaker Eva resigns during sitting on her no-confidence motion

Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Eva Abdull has resigned from her post on Sunday.

The no-confidence motion filed against Eva by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was on the agenda for Sunday’s parliamentary sitting. During the sitting, she was granted the opportunity to present her defense; an opportunity she took up.

However, concluding her defense, Eva said she had tendered her resignation.

Shortly afterwards, Parliament Speaker Mohamed Aslam, who presided over the sitting, confirmed he had received Eva’s resignation letter. After reading aloud the letter, Speaker Aslam announced his decision to accept the resignation.

Speaking in her defense, Eva said she was sure this day would come when she stood up against the MDP administration’s theft and other wrongdoings. She went on to repeatedly describe MDP’s attempt to impeach her as revenge.

“When a person talks about these things, that person can be punished. Can punish the person who is at reach. We can also be punished for they had lost the presidency,”

“But I think they lost presidency because of what they did,” she stressed.

Eva emphasized that there would have been no attempt to impeach her if she had turned a blind eye to the former administration’s wrongdoing. Noting that the wrongdoings of the MDP administration are now coming to light, Eva said the earlier claims made by her party, The Democrats, are now being proven true.

She expressed commitment to keep her eyes open to the wrongdoings of the former administration.

Speaking further, Eva said there will be only a few people who have been more active in MDP’s activities since the party’s inception than her, adding she had participated in road rallies of the party when she was pregnant.

Eva also refuted MDP’s claims that she was trying to defend her cousin, former speaker Mohamed Nasheed. In this regard, she said she has not said a single word in his defense to date. She went on to remind that then-president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was also her relative, adding her decision to standby Nasheed was in no way personal. She attributed this decision to her intention to defend the core values she has always believed in.

“This is not personal in any way. I am trying to uphold the values I have always believed in,” she had said.

Concluding her defense, Eva cited the 19^th parliament as one of the most productive parliaments and also the parliament with the lowest member expenses. She described them as a feat achieved in her capacity as the deputy speaker.

“Successes and failures will be measured differently by different people,” she added.