Speaker of Parliament holds discussions with Ibu, Yameen

Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Shahid has held discussions with Majority Leader, Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (Ibu) and Minority Leader, Progressive Party of Maldives’ (PPM) Abdullah Yameen, on resuming Parliament sessions.

The Parliament has been indefinitely suspended since yesterday.

Discussions at today’s meeting, which was also attended by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ahmed Nazim, were focused on reaching mutual agreements on the issues of loss of quorum and order at the Parliament, through amendments to the Member Disciplinary Regulations and Standing Orders.

The Speaker urged all involved parties to cooperate in resolving these matters, and expressed hope that the negotiations would result in early resumption of the Parliament sessions.

The Parliament was suspended yesterday due to the lack of an orderly setting necessary to hold the meetings.

Recent Parliament sessions have had to be prematurely ended due to loss of order, with MDP Parliamentary Group Members refusing to cooperate for as long as the government insists on imposing a charge on citizens under Aasandha program.