COLOMBO - The Maldivian cabinet resigned en masse Tuesday afternoon to protest the behavior of opposition legislators who they said were "hijacking" the powers of the executive and making it impossible for the cabinet ministers to discharge their constitutional duties and deliver the government' s election manifesto.
Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed told the local press that " the Majlis (parliament) is preventing the cabinet ministers from performing their legal obligations. Majlis members are behaving against the spirit and the letter of the constitution", according to a statement issued by the presidential office on its official website.
The president and the vice president have not resigned from office, said the statement.
"The Majlis is preventing the cabinet ministers from performing their legal obligations. Majlis members are behaving against the spirit and the letter of the Constitution," said Nasheed.
"Every passing week, there is another attempt by opposition MPs (Member of Parliament) to wrestle more control from the executive. They are making the country ungovernable,"Attorney General Husnu Suood was quoted by the statement as saying.
"Opposition MPs are obstructing the business of government. They have awarded themselves powers to appoint members to independent institutions, when this is clearly a prerogative of the president. They have declared that the government can not raise any loans from abroad or rent any government or state asset without their say-so. And they are threatening Ministers with no confidence motions on spurious grounds," said Finance Minister Ali Hashim.
"The opposition MPs are operating a 'scorched Earth' policy, trying to stop the government from doing any work to help the people. We have told the president that we can not continue to work like this," stated Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed.
The Maldives has a presidential system of government, with a separation of powers between the executive, the legislative and the judiciary, guaranteed under a constitution that was enacted in 2008.
The president and vice president are elected directly by the people in a popular vote. President Nasheed and Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan were elected in October 2008. They are due for re-election in 2013.
The Majlis, or parliament, has 77 directly elected members. The new parliament was sworn into office in May 2009. The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party, which is aligned to the People's Alliance party, has 34 seats in the Majlis and the support of a number of independent MPs.
The current cabinet members assumed office in November 2008 after the country's first multi-party presidential election.