A Parliamentary Group member of ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) says that on Tuesday, Speaker Abdullah Maseeh had planned to resign from his position.

The Member, speaking to Raajje.mv on Tuesday’s Parliament procedures, said that the MPs had expressed their anger over the way the Parliament session were carried out. The MPs had raised their concerns over the fact that the bill had clauses that were not in the initial draft of the bill on Criminal Procedures.

The MP said that Bilehdhoo Constituency MP Ahmed Mubeen, who had sponsored the bill, had alerted rest of the Parliament to the changes, which led to the resultant events on the floor.

‘There are several issues with the bill itself. The MPs were angered because the bill was not what they had sent in. Abdu Raheem said the bill cannot be passed. In reality, the bill [that was submitted to the Parliament] was starkly different,’ he said.

Quoting MP Mubeen, some MPs said the bill sent in by MP Mubeen had around 17 pages. The bill that was sent to Parliament on Tuesday had around 30 pages.

The dissatisfied MPs had refused to vote for the bill. Attorney General Mohamed Anil and Tourism Minister Moosa Zameer had visited the Parliament Secretariat and met the MPs, in order to placate them. Maseeh was not included in this meeting.

‘Even when the MPs were going to the meeting, they were in all forms calling for his resignation. MP Falaah called Maseeh, where he said he was prepared to resign,’ the MP said.

Speaker Maseeh had not given time for Parliamentarians to debate on the bill and later the bill was revoked.