AG advises parliament to move Nasheed motion
The general committee decided to seek the opinion of the attorney general to decide how to proceed with the resolution.
Attorney General (AG) Ibrahim Riffath on Sunday advised the parliament to proceed with the no-confidence motion against speaker Mohamed Nasheed with an MP other than those belonging to Nasheed's Democrats chairing the sitting.
Parliament, chaired by speaker Mohamed Nasheed's Democrats MP Hassan Afeef, on Sunday ruled that MDP filed the no-confidence motion against Nasheed in violation of the parliament's rules of procedure and asked the party to resubmit the motion.
As the sitting began, chaired by Vilufushi MP Afeef, who represents the Democrats to which Nasheed belongs, Democrats MPs began to raise points of order, with the intent to prevent the motion from being moved. They cited the reason that the resolution was not in accordance with the rules of procedure.
Democrats parliamentary group leader, Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim said the motion was submitted without the details it should have. Therefore, the motion cannot be submitted to parliament and the opportunity will not be given, he repeatedly said.
Afeef accepted the point of order raised by Azim and declared the motion invalid.
In a second sitting on Sunday, Eva seconded Afeef's decision.
The general committee decided to seek the opinion of the attorney general to decide how to proceed with the resolution. Subsequently, the AG made his recommendation public in his posts on X on Sunday.
Riffath said the no-confidence motion against the speaker has a different standing than an ordinary resolution or motion moved by an MP under Article 205 of the rules of procedure of the parliament.
Instead, the AG said that the only requirement for the no-confidence motion is that not less than one-fourth of the total number of MPs must write, sign and present the motion stating the reason for the impeachment.
"Following a point of order raised by an MP, the chair decided not to proceed with the motion to remove the speaker from office which is unlawful," he said.
An MP with conflict of interest with the speaker holding the chairmanship of a sitting where the speaker's impeachment motion is tabled is a "directly opposite interpretation" to the conflict of interest principle in Article 205(b) of the rules of procedure.
The AG asked the parliament to proceed with the no-confidence motion against Nasheed with an MP other than those belonging to Nasheed's Democrats chairing the sitting.
