A sitting of Parliament scheduled with voting on approval for President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's ministerial appointments on the agenda was called off last night after government MPs obstructed proceedings.
Sunday's sitting first began at 9:00 am. The sitting proceeded in the morning and adjourned for a break but could not resume for voting at 1:30 pm due to obstruction from government MPs.
Efforts to resume the sitting at 8:00 pm were also unsuccessful last night.
Speaker Mohamed Aslam then tried to hold the sitting at 10:30 pm. But the Speaker was sitting at the table designated for ministers after the microphone system was removed from his desk.
The livestream from Parliament's YouTube channel showed Komandoo MP Mohamed Rasheed snatching the microphone from the Speaker's desk. Rasheed had switched to the ruling People's National Congress (PNC) after he was elected on the Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) ticket.
Two MPs were advised to respect Parliament's rules of procedure. But amid unceasing noise from trumpets inside the chamber, Aslam ended the sitting at 10:57 pm.
After the sitting ended, pro-government MPs were seen walking over and going into the President's Office.
The MPs were believed to have met with the President. None of the MPs responded when asked about the meeting. They included MPs who left the opposition MDP to join the PNC.
A sitting of Parliament planned to begin at 11 am today was also postponed. The sitting is now scheduled for 1:30 pm. According to the agenda announced by the Parliament Secretariat, it includes voting on the ministerial appointments.
