Election of a new deputy speaker to the parliament slated for tonight

A parliament sitting has been slated for 8:30pm Sunday night to elect a new deputy speaker following the resignation of former deputy speaker Eva Abdulla.

The no-confidence motion filed against Eva by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was on the agenda for Sunday morning’s parliamentary sitting. During the sitting, she was granted the opportunity to present her defense; an opportunity she took up.

However, concluding her defense, Eva said she had tendered her resignation.

Shortly afterwards, Parliament Speaker Mohamed Aslam, who presided over the sitting, confirmed he had received Eva’s resignation letter. After reading aloud the letter, Speaker Aslam announced his decision to accept the resignation.

Following this, Aslam announced a sitting has been slated for 8:30pm tonight, to elect a new speaker.

MDP lawmakers took point of orders to express their anger prompted by Eva’s resignation while the no-confidence motion was ongoing. Aslam, rejected the point of orders, and concluded the morning session of the parliament, citing Eva’s resignation.

The no-confidence motion against Eva was submitted by MDP with the signatures of 50 lawmakers.

Prior to this, MDP had also filed a no-confidence motion against former speaker Mohamed Nasheed, Eva’s cousin and fellow member of The Democrats. Nasheed tendered his resignation after stalling to motion from proceeding for days.