President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih will deliver the Presidential Address at this year's Parliament opening session on February 6. The day the Presidential Address is delivered will be a public holiday.
The Presidential Statement is required to be delivered by the President in accordance with Article 84 of the Constitution. Article 84 of the Constitution states that the President shall address the Parliament at the beginning of the first parliament session of each year at the first sitting on the state of the country and may present proposals for improving the country's state.
The Parliament Secretariat said the Presidential Address would be heard at 9:00 am on February 6. There are no other items on the agenda for the opening session.
The minority party will respond to the Presidential Address.
While President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is preparing to deliver the Presidential Address, the main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which has a supermajority in the Parliament, has rifted into two factions. While some rally behind the President, others strongly support Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed. The pair will go head to head against each other in MDP's Presidential Primary slated for January 28. The two factions have been verbally attacking each other on public and social media platforms.
