The ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has issued three-line whips to defend the foreign minister and attorney general from no-confidence motions and to remove the deputy speaker.
No-confidence motions against foreign minister Abdulla Shahid and attorney general Ibrahim Riffath were submitted by the opposition over the Chagos issue.
The motion to remove deputy speaker Eva Abdulla was submitted with the backing of 50 MPs by the MDP.
Eva was elected to the post following endorsement from the national council of MDP which held a supermajority in parliament until recently.
Deputy speaker Eva in an interview with Adhadhu. -- Photo: Mirash Nashim/ Adhadhu
She is among the 12 MPs that left MDP over the party’s expulsion of MP Ali Azim for his involvement in opposition activities. They are now working to form the Democrats party.
Eva had been a senior member of MDP since its founding. She has served three terms in parliament through the MDP ticket.
MDP parliamentary group issued the three-line whips during a meeting held on Monday.
Riffath’s no-confidence motion is scheduled for Wednesday’s parliament session while Shahid’s motion is scheduled for June 6 and Eva’s motion is scheduled for June 11.
“Traitors will be removed”
The opposition has accused the government of “selling” part of the Maldives' territorial waters and vowed to remove “traitors” from power.
In late April, the disputed territory between the Maldives and Mauritius was demarcated at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) after the government agreed that Chagos belongs to Mauritius.
The opposition coalition alleged that Shahid benefited from the “selling” of Maldives’ territorial waters.
They claimed that Shahid was able to become the President of the UN’s 76th General Assembly because of a “secret deal” between the government and India.
“In the Chagos issue, we will do the most we can to get back the land, the sea we lost. We will not step back. We are not scared of any punishments,” said the coalition.
The opposition has also initiated a campaign for the impeachment of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, but the motion has not been submitted to parliament.
