The spirit among the Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) parliamentary group is to push ahead with the impeachment motion against Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, Hithadhoo North MP and MDP parliamentary group leader Mohamed Aslam has said.
Speaking at a press briefing today by the MDP parliamentary group after submitting a no-confidence motion against the speaker for the second time, Aslam said the parliamentary group has no desire to withdraw the motion.
"There is no spirit among the parliamentary group now to withdraw this motion at all. [They're saying] very clearly and as one that they want to move ahead with it," Aslam said.
The no-confidence motion against Nasheed was submitted to parliament with the signatures of 49 MDP MPs.
Aslam said the motion was submitted for the second time without the signatures of Independent MPs and MPs from other parties who wished to sign it. Some MDP MPs were also unable to sign the motion, he noted.
Aslam said the previous no-confidence motion against Nasheed was withdrawn at the request of a lot of MPs, some of whom had not been happy with the decision. One reason it was withdrawn at the time was for working with Nasheed's Democrats party during the second round of the presidential election, he said.
"We thought we could work with The Democrats after the first round. [It was done] to find space to do that work and we hoped the speaker of parliament would respect the parliament's rules and proceed with parliament [sittings]," Aslam said.
But the speaker did not do so and prioritized his self-interest, Aslam said.
