Maldives government thwarts opposition bid to oust speaker
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A bid by the opposition to wrest control of the Maldives' Parliament has failed after its lawmakers were either evicted or walked out from a vote on ousting the speaker following a dispute over problems with the electronic voting system.
The government on Tuesday defeated a motion to oust the speaker by 48 votes with none opposing.
The vote was seen a test for President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, whose control over Parliament was threatened by a new understanding between the Maldives' former strongman and its first democratically elected president. However, a dispute arose when lawmakers found that the electronic voting system had crashed, and the opposition accused the government of tampering with the system.
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The deputy speaker ordered some protesting opposition lawmakers evicted and those remaining also left in protest.