Most pro-Nasheed MPs boycott presidential address

Members of Speaker Mohamed Nasheed's faction boycotted the parliament session held on Monday to inaugurate the parliament for this year and deliver the presidential address.

The presidential address has always been seen as chaotic in the past. The presidential address has to be delivered amid a ruckus by opposition members on the floor. However, president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's statement this Monday was opposed by opposition lawmakers as well as some members of the ruling MDP.

Nasheed attended the sitting and presided over the proceedings, but most of the party's lawmakers did not turn up in support of him. Some of the members are:

In addition to these lawmakers, several pro-Nasheed lawmakers boycotted the session. Some of Nasheed's supporters attended the meeting:

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Nasheed's faction have been at loggerheads in the parliament. With President Solih winning MDP’s presidential primary late last month, differences between lawmakers and general members of the party have intensified.

Though they did not turn up for the meeting, some members criticised the President's statement. Imthiyaz said president Solih's five years in office did not look into theft and corruption. The term was run to give space to looting and corruption, he said.

"Writing speeches till the end of one term. God knows what will happen if another term comes," said Imthiyaz, who has been critical of the president in the past.

Responding to the President's statement that the number of plots allotted in Male would be increased and the letter of flats would be given in June, the Central Henveiru MP Azim said that in every presidential speech, Solih says "I will do it this year".

"When he realised there wasnt another year, he started saying he will double up the numbers," Azim said.

"Don't cheat the people. You can eat the world with cunningness to an extent."