Parliamentarian Eva Abdulla has claimed that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) wanted to remove her as Deputy Speaker as punishment for the party's loss in the presidential election. She made the remark after announcing her resignation as Deputy Speaker amid the no-confidence motion against her.
MDP submitted the no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Eva on November 13. The motion was submitted to the Parliament with 50 signatures, including 49 from MDP members and one independent member. MDP made the decision due to the stalled no-confidence motion against then-Speaker Mohamed Nasheed. The motion to remove the Speaker was submitted with 49 signatures but was stalled after Deputy Speaker Eva filed for sick leave.
MDP alleged that Deputy Speaker Eva impeded the efforts to remove Nasheed as Speaker to safeguard her interests, as they share a familial relationship. As such, MDP stated that she violated Article 75 of the Constitution.
Submitting the motion, Parliamentarian Ismail Ahmed said that Eva was elected to the 19th Parliament by MDP members to implement the party's mandate. He accused Eva of undermining MDP and obstructing the work of the previous government after resigning from the party.
Responding to the motion, Eva highlighted that then-Speaker of Parliament Nasheed and then-President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih are both related her. She said that if she had tried to safeguard her familial interests, she would have tried to maintain her relationship with both of them. She also said that she never undermined her work in Parliament or violated the regulations to speak in defence of anyone.
As such, Eva described the attempt to remove her as a personal one. She pointed out that speaking out in Parliament about the theft and embezzlement by the then-government and openly criticizing the way it was doing things was the main reasons why the then-government led efforts to remove her.
Additionally, Eva highlighted some of the work she was involved in as Deputy Speaker in the 19th Parliament such as overseeing the implementation of rules fairly for all parliamentarians and distributing resources equally to all members. She also said that the Parliament continued to work without interruption during the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitated training opportunities for parliamentary employees. She further highlighted the important role played by the Parliament in overcoming the pandemic. She also said that the 19th Parliament began broadcasting sitting in sign language for the benefit of people with disabilities. She added that no parliamentarian actually believes that she is too incompetent to fulfull the role of Deputy Speaker.