Parliament sitting cancelled after initial notice

After initially notifying members that a Parliament sitting would be held this Thursday, the decision was made at the last minute to cancel the sitting.

In a message sent to members, the Parliament Secretariat announced that Thursday's sitting has been canceled. The administration further stated that a date for the next session will be communicated at a later time.

A Member of Parliament has informed RaajjeMV that although a sitting is scheduled for Thursday, members have yet to receive any form of agenda. The member further noted that they were previously advised that both the agenda and the commencement time for the session would be disclosed at a later time.

During Wednesday's sitting, Parliament voted to extend its current session, with 58 members in favor, citing a significant backlog of legislative work. This marks the second time this year that a parliamentary session has been extended, following a similar move during the first session. However, that previous extension was dedicated exclusively to government-sponsored matters. The current extension is widely believed to be aimed at finalizing work on proposed amendments to the Decentralization Act.

Government lawmakers are defending proposed amendments to the Decentralization Act that would allow the state to reclaim land and properties under local council jurisdiction for national development projects. Under these changes, the government would have the authority to remove specific areas from the jurisdiction of islands or cities to facilitate state-led initiatives.

In the 20th People’s Majlis, there have been previous instances where sessions were scheduled without clear notification to members, only to be canceled at the last minute. Furthermore, members have been informed that sessions would proceed even in cases where the formal agenda had not been shared with them.