President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza has threatened legal action “using all the powers of the government” against the People’s Majlis to “bring parliament back to the right path” in an appearance on government-aligned private broadcaster DhiTV on October 25.
Referring to parliament’s General Affairs Committee approving an amendment to the rules of procedure to conduct no-confidence motions through secret ballot, Riza said that the government could not “turn a blind eye” to what he contended was a move that violated the constitution.
“The constitution and parliamentary rules of procedure clearly state which votes are to be conducted through secret ballot. The rest of the votes should be open,” he claimed.
Riza went on to heavily criticise the committee decision, insisting that it violated the parliamentary rules on conducting committees meetings and votes.
The formerly ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has submitted no-confidence motions against both Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed and President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.
While the motion against Home Minister Jameel has been tabled in the agenda for November 14, the impeachment motion has yet to be tabled.
The MDP-dominated General Affairs Committee approved the amendment for a secret ballot last week with four votes in favour and none against, committee chair and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP for mid-Henveiru Ali Azim told local media. Only five MPs reportedly attended the committee meeting last week.
The amendment to parliament’s standing orders or rules of procedure would have to be approved in a vote at the Majlis floor to become official.
While a minister can be removed from his post through a simple majority of the 77 MPs in parliament, a two-thirds majority or 52 votes would be needed to impeach a sitting president.
Meanwhile, responding to Riza today, MDP Spokesperson and Henveiru South MP Hamid Abdul Gafoor told Minivan News that the party believed the remarks constituted a threat to violate separation of powers.
“It is simply second nature for the 7/2 police and military-backed coup-invoked dictatorship to use force to stay afloat,” the MP said.
Hamid had earlier tweeted that Abbas’s remarks were “open threats of use of force to stop secret ballot.”
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What goes around comes around. Whilst in opposition, the current regime tried everything possible to stop the functioning of the previous government.
They seem to be suffering from an episode of amnesia and do not remember the previous three years. It will be interesting to see this battle between the law making body and the executive. One thing is for certain; neither side can win such a battle and the nation will get poorer as a result!
Abbas should realize that nothing can be brought back to the "right" path as long as traitors have the government and country hijacked. It's funny that the spokesclown for the coup government is talking about bringing anything to the "right" path.
Now this is not a bad move by Minivan.
Spokespersons like Abbas should balance and weigh their statements before making it. Also anything he says in the capacity of Government spokesperson should be approved by the political leadership heading the government.
Knowing them, they'll have anyone who speaks against their injustice murdered.
Just like Dr. Afrasheem.
The question is who in the government is against the majlis on this one! It is highly likely that members of Waheed's own government are behind this. We know there is no 'Unity Government' although the group parades itself as such. Maybe another of this selfish pack of brats who call themselves a government is now trying to take centre stage. And yes, it is extremely funny that they are now talking about the constitution and parliamentary procedure. I intend to enjoy watching this little game- except ofcourse what these idiots do impacts on our people and the nation and that is not a laughing matter.
This is typical for ***hole Waheed who has not members in the Parliament to abuse and us all his Maumoon powers to greedily/selfishly retain power by force. I will not be surprised at the end they enforce a Military government. Who is this Abbas, does he know anything about democracy when he opens his MOUTH...
Lets check his background first before we plan to listen to him.
Why can't government approve this amendement? Because then the votes might be fair and reflect voters' real views? Despicable!
Adil Riza is the Sahhaf an Goebells of Maldives. Heil the Dictator!
Adil Riza ist Goebbels. Heil den Diktator. lang lebe maldivian Diktatur. unterdrücken die people.private Teilen dont lie. es aufstehen und sterben.
When MDP govt was in power, they were against conducting no-confidence motions in majilis in secret.
Back then MDP wanted to know publicly who were voting against them and so were against holding secret voting for no-confidence motions against MDP politicians.
MDP is now singing a different tune now. The secret vote they had been previously vocally critical against, has now become suddenly righteous to them. Suddenly they are supporting holding secret votes, because it is going to confer political advantages to them.
Typical. Just typical. This is almost like the actions of Mitt Romney, who sings a different tune everyday, and changes his views and opinions based on his audience and the current situation. To him, it appears that what he's doing is taking advantage due to his political cunning. To the rest of America, he appears as nothing but a hypocrite.