The parliament will continue to support different state institutions in their decisions, as far as its legal mandate allows, Parliament Speaker Abdulla Maseeh has said.

Maseeh said at the inaugural parliament sitting held on Wednesday night, that the parliament would do ‘its duty’ to the support the government’s plans as stated in the presidential address.

President Abdulla Yameen addressed those gathered at the sitting, and highlighted a number of things that the government deems to have been its achievements in the past four years.

The presidential address has been criticized for not including sentiments about the ongoing political tension in the Maldives, and which took of most of the political dialogue in the country this year.

The sitting was held with a total of 36 parliamentarians, all aligned with the government. Parliamentarians aligned with the opposition had boycotted the sitting.