Parliament of Maldives has approved the nomination of Drug Court Judge Mahaz Ali Zahir to be appointed as a Supreme Court judge.
The appointment was approved by votes from 55 parliamentarians. Following the approval for Mahaz, the other name on the list, former Attorney General Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed, was not opened for vote.
The majority party in the parliament and the main ruling party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), had issued a three-line whip to approve Mahaz as a Supreme Court Judge.
The Parliamentary Committee on Judiciary reviewed the nominations submitted by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to be appointed to the bench of Supreme Court of Maldives.
The president nominated two names, Mahaz and Dhiyana, with one of them to be appointed to the vacant position left following the removal of Supreme Court Judge Abdulla Didi on August 28. The president submitted the nominations under the powers vested in him under Article 148 (a) of the Constitution of Maldives, authorising the president to appoint judges to the Supreme Court after consulting with the Judicial Service Commission and with the approval of the majority of the parliamentarians present and voting.
On September 4, the president appointed Dr Azmiralda Zahir and Aisha Shujoon Mohamed to the Supreme Court. They are first female appointments to the Supreme Court. They were appointed to the two positions added to the bench, increasing the total number of judges at Supreme Court from five to seven.