Amendment against allowing voting on no-confidence motions during recess sittings rejected

The parliament passed today that parliament sittings can be held during recess, but rejected the amendment that voting on no-confidence motions cannot be held during such sittings.

The Committee report on the amendment in this regard to parliament procedures was presented to the parliament today by Committee Chairman Thulhaadhoo MP Nazim Rashad. In addition, an amendment to the report was proposed by Fares Maathoda MP Ibrahim Mutthalib.

The amendment proposed to article 33 (d) of parliament procedures states that if one-third of 77 MPs of the parliament request that a parliament sitting be held during recess, this request must be facilitated.

The amendment proposed by Mutthalib in this regard states that such a sitting can only be held under certain circumstances, such as a tsunami, a national disaster that requires government decisions and intervention, or a request by the government for a decision regarding a global emergency situation. The amendment stated that no-confidence motions cannot be tabled for such sittings.

This amendment was rejected with 27 votes in favour which included votes of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) members, 43 against and four abstentions.

Instead, the report of the General Committee was passed without any amendments. The report stated that if a parliament sitting is requested for by one-third or 26 MPs during recess, this must be facilitated within 14 days including holidays.

This amendment was passed with 44 votes in favour, 28 against and two abstentions. A total of 72 MPs participated in the voting. PPM parliamentary group members voted against this amendment.