Deputy Speaker Nazim Granted 10 Minutes to Defend Position in Parliament

The General Committee of Parliament on Wednesday decided to allocate 10 minutes for Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim to respond to a no-confidence motion seeking his removal from office.

The motion, submitted last week and signed by 73 members of the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), calls for Dhiggaru MP Nazim’s dismissal as Deputy Speaker of Parliament.

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During the committee meeting, vice-chairman and Holhudhoo constituency MP Abdul Sattar Mohammed proposed one hour for the proceedings, including 10 minutes for Nazim’s response and 50 minutes for debate among lawmakers.

Opposition MPs argued that the time allotted for Nazim was insufficient. Ahmed Shakir of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) proposed extending Nazim’s speaking time to 20 minutes, divided equally between an introductory statement and a closing response.

The proposal was rejected by the committee’s majority, which is controlled by the PNC. The original motion was approved with the support of five of the seven members present.

Nazim has recently faced a series of changes within the ruling party and parliament. Last month, he was removed from two key parliamentary committees — the Security Services Committee, commonly known as the “241 Committee”, and the Public Finance Committee — before being reassigned to the Environment Committee.

He was also removed from the PNC parliamentary group’s official WhatsApp platform, administered by President Mohamed Muizzu and used as the party’s main communication channel for MPs.

Despite these developments, Nazim has continued carrying out his parliamentary responsibilities and has regularly presided over sittings in the absence of Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla.

Neither the President’s Office nor Nazim has publicly commented on the reasons behind the no-confidence motion.

Nazim is regarded as one of the most experienced members of the current parliament. He previously served as Deputy-Speaker between 2009 and 2015 and was closely associated with former President Abdulla Yameen. He also held senior roles in Yameen’s former political party, the People’s Alliance.

In 2015, Nazim was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The same year, he sought political asylum in the United Kingdom after travelling to Singapore for medical treatment. He returned to the Maldives in 2018 following a change in government and after the Supreme Court overturned his conviction.