Parliament sessions to start tonight

The Parliament is to hold the first session of the year on Wednesday night.

RaajjeMV understands that the session will be held at 9pm, at Dharubaaruge. President Abdulla Yameen will deliver his Presidential Address at tonight’s session.

The Parliament administration is currently working on informing the parliamentarians that a session has been scheduled for tonight.

Article 84 of the Constitution states that ‘at the beginning of the first session of each year at the first sitting, the President shall address the People’s Majlis on the state of the country, and may present proposals for improving the state of the country to the People’s Majlis’. It has to be held on the first Monday or Thursday of February.

The year’s first session was to be held on 5th February, but was cancelled. The same day, a state of emergency was announced. An extraordinary session of the Parliament was held on Monday and Tuesday, where the government proposed and approved to extend the state of emergency by 30 days. Opposition parliamentarians had boycotted the session. The vote was passed without the constitutionally required quorum.