Maumoon holds council meeting, passes decisions

Leader of ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has held a council meeting in which he passed the decisions he made on Saturday.

Maumoon held the council meeting this Sunday afternoon with 11 of the 32 members that make up the council membership.

The council passed the decision by Maumoon to remove MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla along with two other members from the council. And the decision to appoint former Minister of Home Affairs Umar Naseer and Ahmed Sofwan to the council.

Speaking to reporters after the council meeting, Maumoon said that the council members had discussed launching the work of the advisory committee he had set up to assist him with his reform agenda for PPM. And that the advisory committee had secured the approval of the council.

Maumoon had held the council meeting right after Civil Court ordered that President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom take over PPM.

The court had also ruled that the advisory committee was set by Maumoon in violation of its Constitution, and asked that a council meeting be held within 24 hours.

The faction within the party loyal to Yameen has announced that the President had made the decision to hold a council meeting at 9 pm this Sunday night.

Yameen loyalists announced that Maumoon was welcome to attend the meeting, but MP Faris Maumoon, Aminath Nadhira, Umar Naseer and Ahmed Sofwan was not.