An extraordinary parliament session held Monday to decide on the reconstitution of the parliament committees ended without any development.
Hassan Afeef, a member of The Democrats and MP for the Vilifushi constituency, chaired the session. The agenda consisted of two main items: a decision regarding the allocation of committee representation for members from political parties and independent individuals in the standing committees of the parliament and voting on relevant issues that were meant to be discussed during the session. However, there were no issues requiring a vote at that time.
Starting the session, MP Hassan Afeef said two members from the main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had left the party, thereby requiring further amendment to a report prepared on the formation of the standing committees before the parliament went on recess. The members who left the MDP are Parliament Speaker and Macchangolhi Central MP Mohamed Nasheed and Hithadhoo Central MP Ahmed Rasheed.
Afeef said the committee report could be debated only after it is sent back to the members and given the opportunity to propose amendments following the departure of the two members. Afeef then adjourned the session without announcing the date of the next session.
Before concluding the session, Afeef also announced the new distribution of members in parliament:
The current distribution of members
MDP - 54 members
Independent - 18 members
PPM - 5 members
PNC - 3 members
MNP - 3 members
JP - 2 members
MDA - 2 members
The standing committees of the parliament had to be reconstituted after 13 former MDP members left the party, who were later then later joined by two other MPs.
The appointment of members to the standing committees of the Parliament will be based on the number of seats held by each political party in the Parliament. All political parties and independent members will have representation in the 241 committees of the Parliament.
