The decision to declare a no-confidence motion filed by the Maldivian Democratic Party to remove Speaker Mohamed Nasheed as void and the cancelation of two sittings scheduled today were wrong, Parliament's Secretariat has said.
MP Hassan Afeef, who presided over the first sitting on Sunday, decided that the impeachment motion was against the rules in consideration of a point of order raised by Medhu Henveiru MP Ali Azim, the parliamentary group leader of The Democrats.
After accepting Azim's point of order as valid, Afeef said work on the motion could not proceed and ended the sitting.
At the start of today's first sitting, Secretary General Fathmath Niusha announced that Afeef was presiding because Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla was on leave.
But Eva came to preside over the second sitting scheduled on short notice today. After the sitting began, Eva said work on the impeachment motion could not continue further due to Afeef's decision.
Secretary General Niusha told Adhadhu that today's second sitting was scheduled because the Secretariat saw Afeef's decision as wrong.
Parliament's Director of Communications Hassan Ziyau told Adhadhu that the Secretariat was of the same view on Deputy Speaker Eva's decision at today's second sitting.
Afeef's decision at the first sitting came after the Secretary General advised against it, he said.
"The Secretariat believes the chair cannot reject the motion like that," Ziyau said.
Asked whether Counsel General Fathmath Filza's advice was sought before the decision, MP Afeef told Adhadhu that he did not need to seek advice on the matter.
Azim's point of order referred to a provision in parliament's rules that require resolutions to include an introduction or executive summary, which the no-confidence motion did not have.
But MDP MPs argued that it was a special resolution submitted under section 205, which deals with impeachment motions, and did not need to comply with requirements for normal resolutions.
The motion had also been deemed valid by the Secretariat, accepted and tabled in the agenda, MDP MPs stressed.
But Afeef told Adhadhu that his decision was in line with the recent Supreme Court ruling.
"The Parliament Secretariat decided that no one other than the Deputy Speaker could [preside over the Speaker's impeachment]. But the Supreme Court ruled that other provisions [of parliament's rules] must be followed in making the decision. So because the Supreme Court made that ruling, [the motion can't be accepted] without considering other provisions. The [impeachment motion] doesn't fit the rules," he said.
