Parliament closes for ‘Eid holiday’ with just one sitting after recess

The Parliament, which reopened for the second session of the year on Monday, has not scheduled a sitting for Tuesday and is not expected to hold any sittings until after the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday.

The Parliament’s standing orders dictates that the legislative assembly must hold sittings three days a week; on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The Parliament had reconvened for the first sitting of the second session of the year on Monday, but has not scheduled one for Tuesday, with parliamentarians not provided a specific reason for the decision.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Human Rights and Gender Committee scheduled for 11:00 am has now been cancelled.

When questioned by Sun, the Parliament’s secretariat responded that it hadn’t been announced that a sitting would be held on Tuesday. The secretariat was unable to explain the reason for the decision, or when the next sitting will be held.

Some of the parliamentarians who spoke to Sun said there isn’t a sitting because there isn’t any work to be done. They believe the next sitting won’t be until after the upcoming Eid al-Adha holidays.

“Parliamentarians will also be travelling out [of Male’] for Eid, right? This is why they also cancelled the committee meeting,” said one parliamentarian.

With no sitting scheduled for Wednesday either, and the Hajj Day falling on Thursday and the four-day Eid holiday set to begin the next day, he believes the Parliament will be closed for the holiday until at least Tuesday.

The Parliament had gone into recess at the end of the first session on May 15 with 77 percent of work completed.

Parliamentarians from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), who hold just 12 out of 93 seats in the Parliament, have repeatedly expressed concern over unexplained cancellation of parliamentary sittings.

Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla had previously hit back at the criticism, saying that while the Parliament may not be holding sittings due to lack of work that can be done on the floor, committees continue to do work.

Disgruntlement about the seemingly little work parliamentarians engage in recently sparked a petition calling a reduction in the MVR 82,500 monthly renumeration they receive.