Tonight's sitting also concluded without vote due to protests

Parliament Speaker Mohamed Aslam at tonight's parliamentary sitting.

Sunday’s parliamentary sitting, with the approval of the cabinet on agenda, which was halted earlier and rescheduled for tonight was discontinued as pro-government MPs continued to yell and protest.

The sitting which began at 9:00am, initially broke for recess with the vote on the 22-member new cabinet on schedule for 1:30pm. But just ahead of the vote, the MDP parliamentary group convened for a meeting, during which it issued a three-line red whip to withhold support to four government ministers.

As the sitting resumed, pro-government MPs prevented the vote from proceeding by staging a protest on the parliament floor. It eventually escalated to violent altercations between pro-government MPs and MDP MPs

Subsequently, a second recess was initiated, and the vote was rescheduled for 8:00pm tonight. The ruling PPM-PNC coalition MPs had obstructed the speaker from carrying out as the sitting resumed following which another recess was initiated.

The sitting again resumed at approximately 10:40pm. At the time, the Speaker Mohamed Aslam had been seated the seating area allocated for ministers. Although he attempted to ask for the vote, the ruling coalition’s MP had been blowing horns and loudly protesting.

Speaker Aslam repeatedly urged the members to adhere to the parliament’s regulations in order to proceed with the legislative body’s works. However, ruling coalition MPs refused.

Therewith, Speaker Aslam announced the conclusion of the sitting as circumstances hindered the sitting from proceeding.

MDP passed a three-line red whip to withhold approval to four cabinet ministers, including the attorney general.

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