Troops deployed in Maldives after mass cabinet resignation

COLOMBO - The Maldives National Defence Force was deployed in the streets Wednesday after the cabinet resigned en masse over the alleged blocking of legislation by the opposition.

A Maldivian High Commission spokesman in Colombo said the deployment was to ensure security and no incidents had been reported.

Military chief Major General Moosa Ali Jaleel said Tuesday’s resignations had “resulted in an upheaval in the political situation of the country that might lead to negative effects on the peace and tranquility of the country”.

The High Commission spokesman said the resignations came after the opposition was accused of blocking every parliamentary motion that supported the president’s reform proposals.

The proposed reforms included privatisations of major national assets and changes to borrowing laws.

The government accused the opposition legislators in the Majlis, or parliament, of blocking the executive power of the president, which it said is unconstitutional.

“The Majlis is preventing the cabinet ministers from performing their legal obligations,” President Mohamed Nasheed said Tuesday. “Majlis members are behaving against the spirit and the letter of the constitution.”

The Maldives adopted a constitution in 2008 guaranteeing the separation of executive, legislative and judiciary powers after an international call for democratic reforms.

Nasheed was elected in October 2008 to a five-year term, replacing Mohammed Abdul Gayoom, who ruled the Indian Ocean island nation for more than 30 years.

But the president’s Maldivian Democratic Party has 32 seats in the 77-member Majlis, which was sworn in in May 2009. The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party has 34 seats and is backed by some independent members.

Nasheed, who said he would investigate the opposition’s behaviour, remained in office as did Vice President Mohamed Waheed.

The dispute has created a new constitutional crisis in the country, which depends mainly on tourism for income.