Monday’s parliament sitting abruptly ended after ruling party MPs disrupted the proceedings because the agenda did not include the no-confidence motion against deputy speaker Eva Abdulla.
According to clause 205 (c) of the parliament’s rules of procedure, the secretary general must issue a notice of no-confidence motions within three days of submission and move the motions 14 days after the notice.
The 14-day period ended on Sunday and the motion must be moved today.
Vilufushi MP Hassan Afeef was presiding over the sitting which began on Monday morning. Speaker Mohamed Nasheed earlier decided to step away from duties until his impeachment motion is resolved.
Parliament Secretary General Fathimath Niusha earlier announced that Eva’s no confidence motion cannot proceed while the reconstitution of committees are not finalised.
This comes as the MDP, which also holds parliament majority, repeatedly requested the secretary general to table the motion for Monday.
Clause 205 (d) of the rules of procedure state that arrangements for the sitting to move no confidence motions against the speaker or deputy speaker must be carried out by the general affairs committee.
When Monday’s sitting began, MPs from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and other MPs that support the government took continuous points of order and disrupted the proceedings.
“Is today’s sitting going according to clause 205 of the parliament’s rules of procedure? The agenda violates it. Majlis cannot proceed without moving the motion [of no-confidence against Eva],” said Ihavandhoo MP Mohamed Shifau.
The MPs also alleged that Afeef was presiding over the sitting in violation to the procedures.
The speaker was unable to proceed with the agenda set for today and finally ended the sitting.
“If honourable MPs do not allow the sitting to proceed, I am forced to end it now,”Afeef said announcing the next sitting for Tuesday.
The committee work has been at a stand-still since May 17 when 13 MPs left MDP. The composition of the standing committees is based on the number of MPs in the political parties represented in parliament.
As such, the MDP controlled a majority on the committees. But the 13 MPs who left the party had been among those assigned by the MDP to the standing committees. They also included MPs who chaired committees.
Parties held negotiations to reconstitute the committees on Thursday, but no agreements were reached.
They wanted the MDP to hold 50 percent of committee seats with the rest to be divided among other MPs, but MDP disagreed as the party held 64 percent seats in the chamber.
