US expresses concern over chaos in Maldivian parliament

The US today raised concerns about "irregularities" in the Maldives Parliament over a vote on ousting the speaker and asked the government to restore faith in democratic process by ensuring impartial proceedings.
The Maldivian government yesterday defeated a motion to oust the speaker by 48 votes with none opposing after 13 lawmakers were being forcefully removed from the vote following a dispute over problems with the electronic voting system.
"We are concerned about irregularities that impeded a free and fair vote in the Maldives Parliament. We call on the government to restore faith in democratic process by ensuring free and impartial proceedings in Parliament, the US embassy said here in a statement.

In a similar condemnation, the European Union (EU) office here said the government must reassure people that democratic procedures in the constitution will be respected including parliamentary rules.
Yesterday, at least 13 opposition lawmakers were removed from parliament by military officers.
"MPs were manhandled, dragged and disproportionate force was used to forcefully move them out of the chambers by the military. All of the other opposition-aligned MPs then walked out of parliament in protest," opposition party Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said.

The opposition had yesterday moved the vote of no confidence against the speaker. But with no opposition in the assembly, the government won the vote with 48 votes in favour of keeping the speaker.

42 votes are required to carry a motion of no confidence against the speaker. The opposition had said that the government had no intention of allowing parliamentarians a free or fair vote.
During the debate over the speaker, the ruling party parliamentary leader Ahmed Nihan called for a vote against the speaker to be conducted via a 'roll-call', rather than the normal electronic voting system.
A roll-call vote means MPs have to say, one by one, whether they are for or against a motion.
Unlike the electronic voting system, where MPs are permitted 30 seconds to change their vote, a roll-call prevents MPs from assessing the way the vote is going before casting their final ballot.

Under parliamentary procedures, a roll-call is only permitted if there is a defect to the electronic voting system.