Male : The Maldives parliament elected its speaker and deputy speaker Wednesday in a move that ended the coalition between the main Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Jumhoory Party.
PPM nominee Abdulla Maseeh was elected speaker and Opposition Maldives Democratic Party’s Moosa Manik deputy speaker of parliament, Xinhua reported.
With the dissolution of the coalition between the PPM and Jumhoory Party, only MP Ahmed Siyam Mohamed’s Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) remains in the ruling coalition.
Tycoon Gasim Ibrahim, widely believed to be the richest man in the Maldives, helped President Abdulla Yameen win the presidential election in November 2013 and formed a coalition that went on to win the parliamentary polls in March.
However, the coalition ran into trouble after Ibrahim was nominated for the post of the speaker of the parliament without Yameen’s approval.