PNC MPs absent from parliament sitting as only Nazim and MDP MPs attend

The parliamentary sitting scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed for Thursday due to failure to meet the required quorum despite postponing the start of the sitting by one hour.

Parliamentary sittings typically begin at 9:00am after the ringing of the quorum bell. However, today's sitting could not commence even by 9:10am as the quorum was not met.

Presiding over the sitting, Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim stated that although the quorum bell had been rung to commence proceedings, the required number of members was not present. He subsequently announced that the sitting would be postponed until 10:00am in an effort to allow more lawmakers to attend for the quorum to be met.

However, as the required number of lawmakers still failed to attend, Nazim later announced that the sitting could not proceed and would instead be rescheduled for Thursday.

Notably, only Nazim and six members from the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) were present at the floor for the sitting. No members from the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), which holds the supermajority, attended the sitting.

The mass absence follows reports that Deputy Speaker Nazim was removed from the PNC parliamentary group’s official WhatsApp communication channel at approximately 6:00am this morning. Nazim, who represents Dhiggaru constituency, was also removed from several influential permanent committees on July 21. Neither development was formally announced during a parliamentary sitting nor publicly addressed by the PNC leadership. Efforts to obtain comment from PNC Parliamentary Group Leader Ibrahim Falah regarding Nazim’s removal from the parliamentary group have thus far been unsuccessful.

According to the Parliament’s standing orders, the quorum is defined as 25 percent of the total membership. In the 20^th parliamentary assembly, which consists of 93 members, the minimum number of members needed to be present for a sitting to begin, or the quorum, is 23.

Today’s failure to convene for a sitting comes at a critical point in the parliamentary calendar, with the current session scheduled to conclude on Thursday as the parliament enters recess. As of Wednesday, only 18 sittings have been held during the ongoing session.

Despite the considerable salaries and extensive benefits provided by the state to members of parliament, along with the substantial annual budget allocated for parliamentary administration, public criticism has continued to grow over the perceived lack of productivity relative to the level of compensation and resources afforded to lawmakers.