Parliament’s extraordinary sitting concludes in less than five minutes

The extraordinary sitting of the parliament slated for Monday morning was concluded moments after it began as the chair cited the parliament cannot proceed with the constitution of the parliament’s standing committee as further changes to the parliament’s registry have been recorded following the resignation of two lawmakers from main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

The extraordinary sitting was scheduled at the request of 29 lawmakers from MDP as the parliament’s second session was concluded while integral work remained pending.

After opening the sitting, Vilufushi MP Hassan Afeef who was presiding over the sitting, noted the resignation of Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed and Central Hithadhoo MP Ahmed Rasheed (Checkmark Rasheed) from MDP.

Afeef, noting their resignation requires amendments to the presently proposed composition of the committees, said the extraordinary sitting cannot proceed any further.

He said the sitting can continue once the report, reflecting these changes, is circulated for the lawmakers and their amendments to the report are received.

While today’s extraordinary sitting concluded without any progression to parliament – for most of June, the parliament was at a deadlock prompted by no-confidence motions against both the parliament’s speaker Nasheed and Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla.