The parliament has sent the nominations of Drug Court Judge Mahaz Ali Zahir and former Attorney General Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed for the vacancy on the supreme court judge bench to the parliament's Judiciary Committee.

The names of the nominees were presented to the parliament by Speaker Mohamed Nasheed during Monday's parliamentary session.

Six individuals sent in applications for the vacant seat at the Supreme Court, however, only Dhiyana was endorsed to the bench by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). Mahaz was recommended by President Solih and later supported by the JSC.

President Solih sent his nominations to the parliament last Thursday.

The vacancy on the Supreme Court bench was announced on August 29th following the impeachment of former Supreme Court Justice Abdulla Didi for corruption allegations. His impeachment was determined with the vote of 72 members of parliament.

The nominations will be presented to the parliament once again after the Judiciary Committee discloses their recommendation. The post on the Supreme Court bench will be awarded to the nominee with the most amount of votes from parliament members.

According to article 148(a) of the Maldivian constitution, the president has full authority to appoint his nominations to the Supreme Court bench. Likewise, the nominations must be supported by the JSC and presented to the parliament, whereafter the parliament members must take a vote. Furthermore, the nominee must be appointed to their post within six days of being approved by the parliament.