Eva's confidence motion can go ahead despite committee deadlock: MDP
Aslam said the party believes that the functioning of the general committee should not be stalled.
By
Mariyam Umna Ismail
MDP's parliamentary group said on Thursday that the parliamentary rules allow the no-confidence motion against deputy speaker Eva Abdulla to proceed even if reconstituting parliamentary committees are stalled.
With the change in the party representations in the parliament late last month, committees need to be reconstituted. However, parties could not agree on it and the work of the committees have been stalled. Eva's no-confidence motion was taken off the agenda of Sunday's sitting.
In a letter to the lawmakers, Secretary General Fathimath Niusha said:
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The decision to take the matter off the agenda was taken as the committees were not constituted
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Since the general committee is not functioning, the time for a debate on such issues under the rules of parliament is yet to be decided
Speaking at a press conference held at the parliament on Thursday, MDP parliamentary group leader Mohamed Aslam made it clear that no consensus has been reached on the formation of committees in a meeting held with the parliamentary leaders of all political parties. He said:
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MDP has given all possible leeway
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The MDA agreed to an economic committee slot to the party as per the requirement
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Independent MPs demanded that all parties be represented in the general committee; that is not the policy of allotting slots in the committee in the past
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MDP believes that slots in committees should be allotted on the basis of the percentage of MPs represented by parties in parliament; other parties cannot agree
The Hithadhoo North MP said that he had written to the parliament secretariat to express MDP's stand on Eva's no-confidence motion being taken from the agenda on the ground that the work of the general committee had come to a standstill.
Aslam said MDP believes that the functioning of the general committee should not be stalled as Article 106 of the parliament's rules of procedure states that "standing committees remain always intact and assigned certain duties".
At the same time, he pointed out that the rules of the parliament do not allow committees to stop work on the grounds that they cannot agree with the minority in the parliament.
"The general committee of parliament has always been continuous. As long as parliament does not approve otherwise to appoint members to the committee, the sitting MPs will continue the committee's works," Aslam said.
"Even though the speaker has made such an announcement, we are saying this because the rules of the parliament do not point out that there is place for the speaker to issue such an order."
Pointing out that it is the duty of the secretary general to direct the general committee to carry out its work in accordance with the rules of the parliament, Aslam said the rules do not allow any further work to be carried out in the institution after the expiry of the notice of no-confidence motion against the speaker or deputy speaker.
According to the parliament's rules of procedure:
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A no-confidence motion can be filed against the speaker or the deputy speaker with at least one-fourth of the parliament or 22 MPs
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Once the motion is filed, a 14-day notice should be given to respond; debate on the motion should be tabled for the next hearing upon the expiry of the notice
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Any other issue can be debated or put to vote only after a vote is taken on the removal of the speaker or deputy speaker
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A simple majority of MPs that participate in the vote on the no-confidence motion will remove the speaker or deputy speaker
