PNC heavy hitters under consideration for Deputy Speaker role

The ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) is considering several prominent figures within the party’s parliamentary group as a possible successor to Ahmed Nazim, who resigned from his role as the Parliament’s Deputy Speaker ahead of a no-confidence vote on Sunday.

According to sources within the PNC, there appear to be three frontrunners for the role. They are:

• Inguraidhoo MP Ibrahim Falah, PNC parliamentary group leader
• Baarah MP Ibrahim Shujau, PNC parliamentary group’s senior deputy leader
• Mahibadhoo MP Ahmed Thoriq (Tom)

All three are veteran parliamentarians who have served successive terms at the Parliament.

The PNC parliamentary group – which holds a supermajority in the Parliament – has yet to finalize a name. It is also possible that the parliamentary group picks someone else, other than the three rumored frontrunners.

Sources within the parliamentary group report that President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has yet to endorse a candidate for the role.

Nazim, once seen as one of the most influential figures within the ruling PNC, announced his resignation at 08:36 am Sunday – less than a half-an-hour ahead of a Parliament sitting on the no-confidence motion against him.

The motion against Nazim, endorsed by 73 lawmakers from his party, was filed with the Parliament on May 14. It accuses Nazim of repeatedly abusing his office to create strife and disharmony within the Parliament, but does not mention any specifics.

Nazim described the allegations against him as baseless, but said that he had decided to resign as the motion was endorsed by all members of the ruling party’s parliamentary group – which had elected him  to the role in the first place.

Nazim, who was pulled in late April from key parliamentary committees he sat in, was kicked out at around 06:00 am May 13 from a WhatsApp group for PNC parliamentarians managed by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu. The party made the decision to remove the Dhiggaru representative from his position as Deputy Speaker during a parliamentary group meeting the same day.

A senior parliamentarian from the party told Sun that Nazim was instructed to resign, and that the party decided to file a no-confidence motion to force him out after he refused.

While the exact reason why PNC turned against Nazim is unclear, former President Mohamed Nasheed recently the party filed the no-confidence motion because he and 23 other parliamentarians from the party planned to cross party lines and submit an impeachment motion against President Muizzu.

However, this claim is denied by the ruling party.

Nasheed also recently claimed that President Muizzu planned to meet Nazim in Singapore during his trip over the Eid holidays. However, the claim was denied by chief government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhu), who maintained that the trip was a private family vacation.