Deputy Leader of Maldivian Democratic Party’s Parliamentary Group Ali Waheed has expressed his confidence that his party will get the votes it needs to secure no-confidence motions against the President and the Home Minister.
“We have full confidence in this. That is why we proposed it in the first place,” he said. “We want things to go in a democratic way and we accept the decision of the Maldivian people.”
The opposition MDP announced its intentions to submit the motions earlier this month.
Regarding President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, the MDP alleged that he had destroyed the sensitive economy of the nation and that his handling of the economy had destroyed foreign investor confidence in the Maldives.
Justifying the move against Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, MDP members have criticised what they see as Jameel’s failure to probe human rights abuses surrounding the February 7 transfer of presidential power.
The party also cited this year’s increase in murders and assault as the reason behind the move.
Majlis regulations state that 26 votes are needed to get a no-confidence motion onto the floor of the house, with a two-thirds majority of the full assembly (52 of 77) required to impeach the president.
Ali Waheed said that he was unable to reveal the stage at which negotiations with other parties had reached, saying instead.
“I’m not in a state to disclose that. However, we believe that the truth will be revealed in time. Let’s work with the positive things and success will follow.”
An official from the Majlis confirmed today that the necessary votes had been received and that the Counsel General had advised the Speaker of the Majlis that the motion can be tabled.
Figures received from the Majlis show that the MDP currently holds 30 seats in the Majlis, with government-aligned parties holding 39 seats and 7 independents remaining.
One seat in the Majlis is currently empty after the murder of Dr Afrasheem Ali earlier this month. A by-election for his Ungoofaru constituency has been scheduled for December.
Speaking at a press conference outside the Majlis yesterday, Ali Waheed said that discussions within the Majlis had indicated potential divisions within the governing coalition, reported local media.
Nasheed’s Allowances
At the same press conference Ali Waheed expressed his concern over the withholding of office allowances to President Nasheed, suggesting that Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad may be summoned before the Majlis if these privileges continue to be withheld.
“This is just another obstacle put up in front of us and we will tackle it accordingly,” he told Minivan News today.
Local media this week gave conflicting statements regarding the reasons for the withholding of Nasheed’s office allowance.
Sun Online reported Jihad as saying that the issue was related to the unknown location of Nasheed’s office whereas Haveeru said that the suspension of privileges was related to a disagreement over whether former presidents were required to conduct charitable activities.
“In reality, the office should be involved in holding social activities. However, the concern of these members is that there is no social work to be seen by the (Nasheed’s) office,” Jihad was quoted by Haveeru.
“It has to be clarified. Hence the financial allowances have been halted for the time being. We still haven’t been provided with the information we sought in relation to the office,” Jihad told the paper.
Jihad was not responding to calls at the time of press when contacted for clarification.
Article 8 of the Protection and Privileges for Former Presidents Act (Dhivehi) states, “In the event that a former president wishes to conduct social work beneficial to the community, the state shall provide up to MVR175,000 a month to arrange for an office, employees and other matters.”
Article 128 of the constitution states that a former president “serving his term of office lawfully without committing any offence, shall be entitled to the highest honour dignity, protection, financial privileges and other privileges entitled to a person who has served in the highest office of the land.”
Nasheed is currently on trial for the alleged illegal detention of Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed shortly before his controversial resignation in February this year.
However, Jihad was reported as saying earlier this week that Nasheed would be provided any allowances forthcoming from the 2009 Former Presidents’ Privileges and Protection Act .
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Good try, but there's a cat in hell's chance of this going through Majlis. Assuming the 30 members of MDP turn up, they still need 22 alongside them to get this through. Highly unlikely!
Dr.Whaeeday. Noon thi uley Maumoon hurihaa kameh kuree, ekamaku, dheravedhaane they Dr. Waheed wess ebass vaa kah bey numeh noon.
Gayoom ehery ,mihaa ru filaai gen.
Thank God the brutal man is will be gone these few months of Dr.Waheed brutal is much bigger than 30 years of Gayooms Regime.
Dr. waheed is back by former President Maumoon Abdull Gayoom, Gasim Ibrahim
and few other business man to bleed the the nation to live on county's wealth.
Master plane is Housing project to be shared with forces to remain in power.Must find en end to this for Maldivian to survive.This is good news for modern people or men
Whether or not this goes through, it's still a good move and a good message for both the President and the Home Minister. If the coalition has the interest of the people of this country in their mind they will back MDP as everyone knows the crime rate in this country is beyond conrtol now and nothing substantial besides revoking the license of 24 hour business operations is being done to address the crime. And the fact that Waheed commanded his police and defence officers to beat people up on the 8th shows that he is not capable of being our President. Good move MDP, and while I also doubt that it will go through, it is a necessary step for now.
Good move even if ends up achieving nothing but a bigger nappy for Waheedh.
Very good move.
Excellent.
Do not, under ANY circumstances, open your mouth to give any constructive ideas. For, if you open your mouth so, people will definitely come to know how nutty you really are.
So the best is, come up with these useless rants so that there can never be an opportunity for an intelligent discussion for the the betterment of the country.
Very good move. I applaud you.
If the MDP had any hope that they could unseat the President through Parliament they would not have thrown in a no-confidence motion against a Presidential appointee as well.
There you have it my dear friends. MP Waheed is one of those rare brands of career-politician unique to the Maldives. An average ordinary guy who would have been working as a journalist at some television station if not for the lucky coincidence that landed him in Parliament. These hapless individuals are forced to make public statements that their puppet masters are too ashamed to make. They are often forced to make false promises that adversely affect their own popularity and re-election chances.
This is of course not an issue for the likes of Waheed because he could not secure the funding for a campaign by himself. He would need some master behind the scenes to grant him a seat and pay his constituents to keep them happy.
The main reason why MDP lost its momentum is when disullusioned party gullibly members that coni report will come through in their favor and rallied the hopes of the supporters who have remained ever so patient to fight for the cause. But MDP stretched the blind hopes of its supporters too far and ultimately it snapped. Leaving only the core supporters and the rest just got frustrated because MDP only knows how to throw a good rally, it is not smart enough as other parties to play politics. It is not funded enough perhaps to buyout the system. This move once again is MDP making the same mistake, frustrating its would be voters further. Why attempt this when everyone else except the people in MDP knows it will not go through. This is mdp crying over spilled milk.
The current coalition of parties are all complicit in the premature and unwarranted transfer of power. The Coni report had legitimized the act notwithstanding the unsavoury and unseemly misdeeds of the security forces and subsequent compulsion by the serving President to resign to save his neck.
How on earth would they save face with the public with this vote of no-confidence to oust the incumbent. This means laying bare the vineer of constitutionality coated on the whole drama to run the risk of undoing it all.
But then, if that succeeds, how great it would be for Mr. Dean to assume the top job as the new Chief Executive of Republic of Maldives. Plus, a lesson for being complicit in toppling prematurely the elected government through extra-constitutional means. It has to be peaceful throughout.