Nazim returns to parliament 2 months after resigning as deputy speaker
Nazim resigned shortly before Parliament was due to consider a motion seeking his removal from the post.
Dhiggaru MP Ahmed Nazim attended a sitting of the People's Majlis on Tuesday for the first time since resigning as Deputy Speaker in May.
Nazim resigned shortly before Parliament was due to consider a motion seeking his removal from the post.
The ruling People's National Congress (PNC), of which Nazim is a member, submitted the motion on 14 May, alleging that he had attempted to disrupt the functioning of Parliament.
According to the sequence of events:
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Nazim left for Malaysia on the night of 13 May, before the motion was submitted.
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On 31 May, shortly before Parliament was scheduled to debate the motion, he resigned as Deputy Speaker while rejecting the allegations against him.
Nazim had not attended any parliamentary sittings since leaving the Maldives on 13 May. He returned to the chamber on Tuesday after an absence of about two months.
During the sitting, he participated in two votes:
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The vote to accept the government's proposed Waste Management Bill.
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The vote to pass the Human Organ Transplantation Bill following committee review.
On both occasions, Nazim voted in line with the PNC.
Before the motion to remove him as Deputy Speaker was submitted, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu removed Nazim from a WhatsApp group used to communicate with PNC parliamentary members.
Nazim was also removed as the PNC's president for the Dhiggaru constituency in June and was removed from two parliamentary committees in April.
The PNC has not publicly detailed the actions it alleges disrupted the functioning of Parliament. Senior party officials, including President Muizzu, have not provided further details when questioned by journalists.
