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THE UNITED STATES has asked the Maldives to restore faith in democracy after the government deployed troops to parliament to forcibly remove opposition politicians, sparking chaotic scenes.
The US expressed concern about “irregularities” that impeded a free and fair vote in parliament, after plainclothes soldiers evicted MPs as they attempted to impeach the speaker.
“We call on the government to restore faith in democratic processes by ensuring free and impartial proceedings in parliament,” the US embassy to Sri Lanka and the Maldives said in a statement.
It came as the Maldives’ ruling party sacked the country’s former strongman president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom as its leader, after he led an unsuccessful rebellion against his half-brother, who is now in power.
Atul Keshap🇺🇸 / Twitter
Atul Keshap🇺🇸 / Twitter / Twitter
Gayoom’s sacking followed an abortive bid to impeach the speaker and take control of parliament, as part of a pact he entered over the weekend with exiled opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed.
National President Abdulla Yameen had recently taken executive control of the party, but his half-brother was its nominal president.
“Gayoom has been accused of sympathising with the opposition,” said a Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) official who asked not to be named.
His ideology no longer aligns with that of the PPM.
Gayoom had urged PPM legislators to vote with the opposition yesterday to impeach the speaker of the house, a move aimed at undermining Yameen’s hold on power before 2018 elections.
Nasheed had hoped that the surprise alliance with Gayoom would provide enough parliamentary support to oust the speaker.
Instead there were chaotic scenes in parliament as opposition legislators staged a rowdy protest before losing the vote as some of their members were physically carried away by troops.
Unprecedented disturbance
The government blamed the chaos on the opposition.
“The no-confidence motion (impeachment) was defeated after unprecedented disturbances perpetrated by the opposition members inside the parliament chamber,” the government said in a statement.
Media were not allowed access, but images posted on social media showed several opposition-aligned MPs being evicted while armed police kept opposition supporters from gathering outside the building.
“What we saw in Majlis today was a total disgrace” Gayoom tweeted after the vote, referring to the country’s parliament.
The extent of govt’s fear of a free vote. All the reason why we must overhaul the system!
There was no immediate comment from Gayoom, currently on holiday in neighbouring India, on his sacking from the party.
He ruled the Maldives for three decades before founding the party when the country embraced multi-party democracy in 2008.
Nasheed became the Maldives’ first democratically elected president in 2008 by defeating Gayoom. But he narrowly lost the 2013 run-off elections to incumbent Yameen.
He now lives in exile in London after he was convicted in 2015 on terrorism charges widely seen as politically motivated.
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I don’t mind paying a bit extra, it’s a great service.
@Justice Mickey: yes, and combine meter reading and post delivery into one unit. Maybe check for dog licence, TV licence, gas meter water meter,. So many people going around doing the same type of job. An post should look taking other contract work.
@Justice Mickey: ah, here now, you’re not allowed to make positive comments on here!
@RJ: ah yeah great idea put a load of people out of work
@Tony Lyons: “ah yeah great idea put a load of people out of work”
If three people are doing the work of one and all at the taxpayers expense then Hell Yeah.
@Justice Mickey: Amazing service for packages, wouldn’t use anyone else in Ireland, hopefully they can stay competitive.
It is far too expensive, An Post, well their Management must be Brainless, taking down the price should be the plan, try encouraging people to use the system.No, – They never thought about that.! I sent a book by post recently, it cost me E9.00 , way too much. They are intent on putting a lot of people put of work.
@Eugene Comaskey: must’ve been over half a kilo then? compared to other countries that not expensive. To give you an example, you can post up to 2kg for 9euro.
@Kevin: I bought a calendar for my aunt in the uk for xmas and the postage was as dear as the calendar.
@Eugene Comaskey: Try sending by another company and see how much they charge you. Then you will realise the service provided and the price is far better than any other company.
@Brian Madden: funnily enough the UK package and parcel prices came down before christmas..
Compared to most countries we have a reliable postal service.
@Brian Madden: well, now, this is meaningless seeing as you’re not telling us how much the calendar cost.
@Eugene Comaskey: Compared to most countries, we have a great postal service. If you post a letter at 4pm,
@Ann Reddin: ** it arrives at its (national) destination the following morning.
Posting letters ? I stamped that out !
2017 the cost of posting a letter went up 30 per cent.
Nothing like slipping it in nice and slow into the slot on the box
Way too expensive. All previous increases has resulted in a decrease in An Post volume, this one will have the very same result.
Super service dont mind paying for it
I send about 20 letters a day, why isn’t there a more frequent option in the poll?
@Terrence Edwards: wow. You need a Franking machine and a runner at that rate .
@Terrence Edwards: Are you working as postal agent for one of Motley Independent TDs say Mattie McGrath or Healy-Raes ? they are usually the ones churning out letters and other junk mail….on back of Irish Tax payers
For instance , Seamus Healy in Tipperary got 70,000 Calendars printed by Dail printing service last year , but it still didn’t save his seat in the recent GE.. I’m guessing he didn’t get all the Calendars posted out on time …!!
But at least it had no printing errors unlike in 2019 when Michael Healy-Rae sent out over 8,000 Calendars before someone realised June 30th and Nov4th had disappeared!
But the Dail should no longer perhaps require an Industrial grade printer that cost €1.4M ..with “eco friendly” TDs like Healy now thankfully confined to the scrap heap..
@Terrence Edwards: Begging letters?
@Terrence Edwards: Emails don’t count Terry!
@XvSv: Well maybe FG put that printer to good use and had all their election posters printed with it. they did seem to be ahead of the posse, erecting their posters.
@Terrence Edwards: Calm down kids. I run an etsy store in my spare time and ship out tons of orders.
The postal service is very unreliable where I live with lots of post going missing. An Post has never addressed this despite umpteen complaints from everyone in our estate. As regards post being cheaper, I received a package from Spain recently, sent by registered post, it cost €6.80 from Spain. There was a problem with the contents and I had to send it back. I also sent it registered (bearing in mind that I don’t trust the postal service), it cost €13.50. So we are paying more for an unreliable service.
Its a great service. Keep all post offices open in rural areas. A post office is not only a post office in small towns and villages across Ireland. Its socially intelligent to keep them open. It keeps an eledelry generation informed of whats happening locally. I think this ‘poll’ has a dark underbelly trying to give reason to more closures or lay offs of postal workers?
@Owen Mc Carthy: That’s what pubs are for.
@james dimaggio:
That used to be the great way, Pubs, Post Offices,your local store, it wasn’t just about, going for a beer, a stamp,or a loaf of bread, it was about, communicating, with your neighbours,having a chat, listening to or spreading gossip, meeting strangers. yes they are all gone now,Pubs, with any sort of character, the local family store, the post office. all taken away from us.
@Owen Mc Carthy: From personal involvement I know that where the PO was part of a local business and closure because of customer falloff became an issue…a locality meeting was arranged..people attended the closure protest meeting who had rarely used the PO services or, say the grocer shop…When it was pointed out that they either had to support the local business or the multi stores or avail of discounts on online billing etc etc…surprise surprise…no upturn in PO or Grocery business..use it or lose it…up to commmunities !!!!!
In 18 years I’ve never posted a letter
@minister for emos: you’ve got someone else to do it for you
@minister for emos: I was wondering why I never got your Christmas card !
This will make us 6th most expensive out of 32 countries
UK is still 80 cents (58p) – even normally expensive Sweden is only 88 cents – other islands like Malta can do it for 26 cents
(Prices in this list are from Summer 2019)
https://www.statista.com/chart/18283/postage-cost-of-a-standard-letter-in-european-countries/
@Anthony Clark: the problem is that your 58p in the UK will only get you a 2nd class stamp
I don’t believe their suggestion we are in line with other EU countries – I cannot sell stuff on Ebay because postage is too high to be competitive with other sellers – especially UK where the norm is for a seller to be able absorb the cost and offer free postage.
I bought a couple of books of Christmas stamps which contained a free stamp bonus in each. They are the 1 euro stamps. I think I’ll give the remaining ones to my friends before the increase so they can write angry letters to the CEO of An Post complaining of the coming 10c surcharge. Happy Christmas Mr. CEO.
@Garreth Byrne: send them by free post
I paid €2 yesterday for an A4 envelope postage stamp. I was told that’s what was needed for that.
@Peter:
Also I tapped for it. Does that mean they’d get €1.75 of that now?
Business users totally rely on this service
God I remember when they were 70p
@Mark Ger Ard: god i remember them as 32p or 28p if you didnt seal the envelope
Had a letter to post last week, the weather was bad, the local post office a bit of a hike, inquired around in local stores for a stamp, nearest, didn’t sell, the other did but were out, I was also looking out for the nearest post box to me, couldn’t see one. As it turned out a postal delivery, van had pulled up outside a business, I waited for the driver, to ask him where the nearest post box was, he hadn’t a clue, I only got to post that letter yesterday (Monday), four days after I intended to.
@Peter Dunwoody: poor eyesight…specsavers might help!!
How often do you receive a letter?
That shows the true value of the postal service.
I only post a letter once, it never comes back to be reposted. Why do you ask?
How often? Every time I write one.
@jamesdecay: how often do you write them?
Takes the biscuit, extortionate pricing. If you send a signed for letter here also its done via registered for a letter at a whopping €8, yes eight f*cking euro. In the UK signature postage costs £1.90 for a letter. An Post are clearly pricing themselves out of existence…
Sign for post is not same as reg post…get educated….
If it’s going to cost €1.10 now per letter,that means it’ll be €28.60 for the entire alphabet. I’m going to have cut down on the j,q,v,w,x,y & z. I’ll email my Polish friends instead.
Higher B I K FOR ALL THE POLITICIANS
I never write letters now. Mary Lyons
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