Tuesday’s sitting ended without calling for a vote to approve a new Elections Commission (EC) member.

Main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had raised concern over the committee report, which had given top marks to incumbent EC member Ismail Habeeb, who is vying for a new term.

Before concluding Tuesday’s sitting, speaker Qasim Ibrahim quoted a letter from MDP’s parliamentary group leader Mohamed Aslam, which said that the committee on independent institutions had interviewed and reviewed the candidates at three meetings but that the committee did not approve the forwarded report.

Since Aslam is a committee member, Speaker Qasim concluded that he will not call for a vote until this issue is resolved.

The committee on independent institutions, which have a government majority, gave passing grades to only two of the 16 candidates. They are Habeeb and Ahmed Moosa.