<span style="color: #222222;">In Maldives, former President Mohamed Nasheed has been nominated as speaker of new parliament or Majlis which will hold its first sitting today. <br />'' <br />'' Mr. Nasheed, who leads the  Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) was unanimously elected speaker by its newly elected MPs last night. <br />'' <br />'' MDP had won a record 65 out of 87 seats in parliamentary elections held last month.  <br />'' <br />'' Mr. Nasheed after his nomination said that the 19th parliament proceedings will be lawful and that the public will see a difference. <br />'' <br />'' The former President said that he accepted his nomination after considering the difficult situation within the party and out of respect to the wishes of party MPs. <br />'' <br />'' His comments came as there were reports that party was headed for a split as five MPs including two strong contenders had shown interest for the post of speaker. However, both of them proposed the name of Mr. Nasheed during the MDP meeting. <br />'' <br />'' Another MDP MP Eva Abdulla has been nominated for the post of deputy speaker. <br />'' <br />'' President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih congratulated both saying that he looks forward to work with the new Majlis on behalf of all Maldivians. <br />'' <br />''Meanwhile, the newly elected MPs will take the oath of office today. As per the constitution, the new MPs are supposed to elect a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker from its members by secret ballot.</span><br />