Parliament remains closed after Independence Day holiday

The Parliament remained closed on Wednesday, even as government offices reopened the day before after the Independence Day holiday.

Government offices had reopened after the holiday on Tuesday. However, the Parliament hasn’t scheduled any sittings since last week.

The secretariat for the Parliament was not immediately available for comment regarding the decision.

But Ibrahim Falah, the Parliament’s majority leader, told Sun that the legislative assembly will reopen on August 4, after the school term break.

Another parliamentarian, who spoke to Sun on condition of anonymity, said that that they were informed that the Parliament would remain on break even after the Independence Day holiday via a “sudden message" on Monday.

The presidency of the Parliament had not announced any such break when concluding the last sitting.

“I don’t know how this break came about. We just received a sudden message,” said the parliamentarian.

The Parliament’s standing orders require the legislative assembly to hold sittings three days a week – on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Parliament has been hit with criticism for failure to hold regular sittings, with parliamentarians not provided a specific reason for such decisions.

Parliamentarians from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), who hold just 12 out of 93 seats in the Parliament, have repeatedly expressed concern over unexplained cancellation of parliamentary sittings.

Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla had previously hit back at the criticism, saying that while the Parliament may not be holding sittings due to lack of work that can be done on the floor, committees continue to do work.

Disgruntlement about the seemingly little work parliamentarians engage in recently sparked a petition calling a reduction in the MVR 82,500 monthly renumeration they receive.

On Monday, the Parliament issued a statement saying that the number of bills sponsored by parliamentarians alone does not reflect their actual workload, and that they are involved in contribute to different stages of the legislative process.

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Editor’s note: This article has been amended to include comments from parliamentarians regarding being notified that the Parliament will remain on break until August 4.