A sitting held on Monday as parliament reconvened to begin the third session of the year concluded without determining the representation of political parties in standing committees.
Speaker Mohamed Nasheed decided not to proceed with the agenda item as MPs who joined his Democrats have yet to officially inform parliament of their new party affiliation.
MPs who led Nasheed's breakaway faction of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) after his loss in the party's presidential primary formed a new party called The Democrats at the end of parliament's second session this year. The composition of standing committees needed to be changed after 14 MPs including Nasheed left the MDP.
At the start of today's sitting, Nasheed said only three MPs have officially notified parliament that they have switched to The Democrats.
"I offer the opportunity to The Democrats to send letters to parliament today if other honorable MPs are joining your party. Once that is done, I see that work on reconstituting parliament's standing committees will go forward swiftly," he said.
In response, some MDP MPs raised their voices and started protesting. Nasheed called out the names of three MDP MPs and ordered them to leave the chamber.
The three were Dhaandhoo MP Yaugoob Abdulla, Thinadhoo Uthuru MP Abdul Mughni and Kelaa MP Ibrahim Shareef.
But they refused to leave and Nasheed adjourned the sitting after repeated warnings.
As the MPs remained in the chamber after the break, Nasheed announced that the sitting was over. The next sitting is due to take place tomorrow.
