Five Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs voted against removing former president Mohamed Nasheed as speaker of parliament in a vote taken by the MDP parliamentary group on Tuesday to submit a no-confidence motion.
Speaking at a press conference by the MDP's parliamentary group in parliament, majority leader and Hithadhoo Uthuru MP Mohamed Aslam said 41 MPs took part in the vote and five MPs voted against it. But he did not reveal their identities.
In response to a question from a reporter, Aslam said it was difficult to reveal their names. When Adhadhu asked whether any action would be taken against the MPs who did not vote in favour, Aslam said the MPs did not necessarily disagree with going ahead with removing Nasheed.
"It's not that they don't want to proceed with it. However, they talked about other stages of our discussions," Aslam said.
Some 42 MPs attended the parliamentary group meeting held to make a decision on impeaching Nasheed and 14 MPs were absent. The MP who chaired the meeting did not participate in the vote.
