Deputy Speaker vote postponed to Monday

The Parliament sitting scheduled for Sunday afternoon to elect a new Deputy Speaker has been postponed to Monday.

Dhiggaru MP Ahmed Nazim, once seen as one of the most influential figures within the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), announced his resignation from the role of Deputy Speaker at 08:36 am Sunday – less than a half-an-hour ahead of a Parliament sitting on the no-confidence motion against him pushed by his own party.

The Parliament had been scheduled to convene at 01:00 pm Sunday to elect a new Deputy Speaker.

However, the sitting has now been postponed to Monday.

The Parliament did not provide a reason for the postponement.

The PNC, which holds a supermajority in the Parliament, is considering several potential candidates for the role. This includes the party’s parliamentary group leader Ibrahim Falah, parliamentary group’s senior deputy leader Ibrahim Shujau, and Mahibadhoo MP Ahmed Thoriq (Tom).

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.