MPs disagree over committee seat distribution between parties

Arguments have taken place between MPs representing the government coalition and opposition parties, over the distribution of parliament standing committee seats between parties.

This comes following the determination of the number of seats given to each party in each of the 13 parliament standing committees yesterday, by the select committee appointed for this task.

The select committee decided yesterday to give majority seats in 8 committees to the government coalition made up of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), and majority seats in 3 committees to opposition parties Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), Jumhooree Party (JP) and Adhaalath Party.

Today, MDP and JP opposed the decision to grant majority seats to the government coalition in the 8 committees requested by the government - as they also want majority seats in 6 out of these 8 committees.

The 6 committees in question are Public Accounts Committee, Economic Affairs Committee, National Security Committee, Independent Institutions Committee, Government Oversight Committee, and National Development Committee.

No consensus could be reached by the end of today’s meeting, and the MPs have scheduled another meeting for this evening.

The select committee appointed to determine the number of slots given to parties in the standing committees consists of PPM Parliamentary Group Deputy Leader Riyaz Rasheed, JP Leader Gasim Ibrahim, Adhaalath Party’s Anaara Naeem, and MDP’s Ali Azim.