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Abdul Raheem elected as Speaker of the Parliament

Parliamentarian Abdul Raheem Abdulla has been elected as the Speaker of the Parliament and Parliamentarian Ahmed Nazim has been elected as the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament. The Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Parliament were elected during the first sitting of the new Parliament. The first sitting was presided by Parliamentarian Ahmed Siyam.

An interim committee has been established to elect a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the Parliament. While the Parliament consists of five parties; People's National Congress Party (PNC) which is the ruling part, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) which is the opposition party, Jumhooree Party (JP), Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) and Maldives National Party (MNP), the committee comprises of members from each party. Members of the committee and their respective parties are as follows: Ibrahim Didi (PNC), Abdul Gafoor Moosa (MDP), Gasim Ibrahim (JP), Mohamed Nazim (MNP) and Mohamed Abbas (MDA).

In addition to Abdul Raheem, Parliamentarian Ibrahim Nazil was also nominated as the Speaker of the Parliament. However, he obtained only 14 votes.

The Speaker and Vice-Speaker of Parliament are elected by secret election held among the members of the Parliament. Abdul Raheem successfully secured the title of the Speaker of the Parliament with 71 votes.

Following the elections of Abdul Raheem as the Speaker of the Parliament, the upcoming sittings of the Parliament will be presided by him. Deputy Speaker of the Parliament will only preside the sitting in situations in which mark the absence of the Speaker.