Parliament’s third session extended till December 18th

The parliament has decided to extend the ongoing third session until December 18^th.

This marks the second extension to the third session of this year. The first extension, set to expire tomorrow, was approved on November 27^th.

Opening the 33^rd sitting of the third session on Wednesday morning – Speaker Mohamed Aslam stressed that important works remain pending while the initial extension was set to expire tomorrow.

In light of this, he announced his decision to propose extending the current session until December 18^th.

“I plan to ask for a vote on extending the ongoing third session of the parliament until December 18^th under Article 24 of the standing order. In this trajectory, I announce a vote will be asked on this matter during today’s voting period,” he said.

43 members who were present at the voting period unanimously decided to approve the proposed extension.

Parliamentary sittings during a large portion of the third session had been stalled over the disagreements prompted by the no-confidence motion filed against former speaker Mohamed Naheed.

The no-confidence motion had been purposely stalled from proceeding by nitpicking various regulations of the parliament. MDP sought to resolve the deadlock through Supreme Court which ultimately decided that the no-confidence motion had been stalled unlawfully.

Nasheed tendered his resignation when the parliament attempted to proceed with the no-confidence motion following the judgment.