Speaker Mohamed Nasheed's conduct in presiding over parliament is causing a loss of confidence, majority leader Mohamed Aslam said on Thursday.
Nasheed raised procedural questions on Wednesday and parked a no-confidence motion filed by the opposition against attorney general Ibrahim Riffath.
Speaking to Adhadhu about the dispute, Aslam said Nasheed was raising questions to "waste parliament's time" by seeking an advisory opinion from the Supreme Court.
"This is a difficult problem. It's reaching the point where confidence is lost in the speaker," Aslam said.
As a cabinet ministers defending himself on a no-confidence motions is his right, Aslam believes that a minister has the discretion to give up the right. It is very clear in the constitution and parliament's standing orders.
"When MPs drafted the parliament's rules, the provision was written exactly as it was in the constitution," Aslam said.
The right of ministers to respond to parliament over no-confidence motions is stated in article 101 of the constitution. Section (b) of the article states, "At least fourteen days notice of the debate in the People’s Majlis concerning a motion under article (a) shall be given to the concerned member of the Cabinet, and he shall have the right to defend himself in the sittings of the People’s Majlis, both orally and in writing."
The text is the same in section 207(c) of parliament's standing orders.
"So the meaning is very clear. It means orally if he wants and in writing if he wants. He could also respond in both ways if he wants to," Aslam said.
As the defence is a right, Aslam believes that that ministers have the right to not respond.
"It is a very clear open provision. But now suddenly we have to go [to the Supreme Court] to interpret it," he said.
The other point he noted was different decisions made by parliament in the past on no-confidence motions. Parliament previously concluded no-confidence motions on ministers and a vice president. These included cases where they responded and did not respond, he said.
Despite losing confidence in Nasheed over the no-confidence dispute and several other issues, Aslam did not say whether a no-confidence motion would be filed to remove the speaker.
A resolution with the signatures of at least one-fourth of the total membership of parliament must be submitted to remove a speaker. That is the signature of 22 MPs from the 87 MPs at present.
A no-confidence motion could be passed by half of the membership. That is 44 MPs. The MDP's parliamentary group has more than the simple majority of MPs.
