Parliament adjourned to negotiate standing committees issue

Parliament has adjourned its sitting again today to negotiate a deadlock over the compositions of the parliament standing committees.

Speaker of the Parliament Abdulla Maseeh announced that the sitting will resume at 11:00 a.m. after the five-member select committee assigned with finalizing the committee compositions concludes its meeting. The select committee is scheduled to meet at 10:00 a.m.

Speaker Maseeh also assured that he has discussed the standing committees issue with representative leaders of political parties on numerous occasions.

The comments follow claims by opposition Minority Leader, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Jumhoory Party Parliamentary Group Leader Gasim Ibrahim that the Speaker did not discuss the standing committees issue for a week after the sitting on Tuesday was adjourned.

Parliament sitting yesterday was also brought to halt over the failure to reach a consensus on the compositions of the standing committees when opposition MDP MPs refused to allow the sitting to continue without finalizing the standing committees compositions.

On 16 June, a five-member select committe decided the compositions of the 13 standing committees in parliament to hold 11 members in each committee and the ruling coalition to have majority of seven major committees. The compositions are likely to be revised and parliament floor has to approve the decision to be finalized.