A sitting of parliament with a no-confidence motion filed against Speaker Mohamed Nasheed on the agenda was cancelled today because Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla was unable to attend.
Eva was unable to attend due to an illness. A sitting scheduled for Sunday was also cancelled.
Parliament's rules require the Deputy Speaker to preside over a sitting with the impeachment of the Speaker on the agenda, according to Secretary General Fathimath Niusha.
However, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has petitioned the Supreme Court to declare that the cancelation of the sitting contravened parliament's rules.
MDP is seeking an order to declare that the sitting could be held under section 44 and that the decision to call off the sitting was in violation of the rules.
Section 44 of the rules states that if the Speaker recuses himself from presiding over a sitting, the Speaker must assign an MP to preside in his place.
The party has also asked the court to declare that the impeachment motion must be concluded before any other work could be done in parliament, which is stated in section 205 of the standing orders.
This includes the swearing-in ceremony of President-Elect Dr. Mohamed Muizzu scheduled to take place on November 17.
The petition also states that the Speaker has been obstructing the no-confidence motion, which could paralyze parliament.
But the Supreme Court is yet to accept the petition.
