The People’s Majlis, Maldives’ unicameral parliament, has passed to bar opposition leaders Mohamed Nasheed and Qasim Ibrahim from contesting in the upcoming presidential ballots.

31 lawmakers of the 85-seat house were in favour of moving to vote on three bills on the electoral process, with a total of 34 members voting for the amendments.

This is the third time deliberations on the bill have been held over the matter, with the last being held on Tuesday.

While only government-aligned lawmakers took part in the deliberations, parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh had advised those that boycotted it to attend Wednesday’s sitting.

The amendments were passed with votes from only 36 lawmakers on the grounds of necessity, or Haalathul Zaroorat in Islamic jurisprudence.

Opposition aligned lawmakers have been boycotting parliamentary sittings on the grounds that they do not recognize Maseeh holding office, after multiple no-confidence motions against him have been contentiously dismissed and quashed.

Former President Nasheed, the leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party, and Jumhooree Party's Qasim have been convicted on seperate criminal charges. The Elections Commission has denounced their previous bid for candidacy in the 2018 elections, slated for September.