Parliament sitting cancelled as PNC supermajority fails to meet quorum
Wednesday's parliamentary sitting was canceled due to a lack of quorum, marking the latest in a series of disruptions during the current session. Despite extending the deadline twice and ringing the quorum bell to summon members, the session could not proceed as the minimum required attendance was not met. This follows a recurring trend in the first session of the year, where parliamentary proceedings have faced frequent interruptions and prolonged delays for various reasons.
The People's Majlis of the Maldives. | RaajjeMV
A session of the People’s Majlis, where the ruling PNC holds a supermajority, was canceled today after failing to meet the required quorum.
Wednesday's People's Majlis sitting has been canceled, despite the chair having initially scheduled the session to commence at 10:00 a.m.
Sittings of the People's Majlis typically commence at 9:00 a.m. However, during Wednesday's session, the Deputy Speaker and MP for Dhiggaru constituency, Ahmed Nazim, announced that the sitting would be delayed until 10:00 a.m. as a quorum was not present at the scheduled start time, even after the quorum bell was rung.
However, a quorum had not been reached by 10:00 a.m. Nazim stated that the session was subsequently canceled after the quorum bell was rung and the required number of members still failed to attend. He further announced that the next sitting is scheduled for Thursday.
Wednesday's session marks the 19th sitting of the first term of 2024.
Numerous sittings of the People's Majlis were canceled during the first session of 2024. Following a two-month recess, the parliament reconvened for the year on February 5th. Despite three months having passed since the start of the first session, no official reason has been provided for the frequent cancellation of scheduled sittings.
After convening a session on February 17 during this year's first term, the Parliament went into a nearly three-week recess before meeting again on March 8. Following that break, parliamentary sittings have now resumed after a 35-day hiatus.
