Parliament fails to hold sitting due to lack of quorum

Parliament on Monday adjourned three times due to insufficient quorum to start the session.

There were about 10 members in the parliament when the sitting was announced to start at 9am on Monday. The session was adjourned three times to reach the 22-member quorum, but was not met.

Finally, at 1 pm on Monday, parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed, who was in the chair, said that the session could not start.

Every time the session was adjourned, Nasheed blamed MDP MPs on the issue of insufficient quorum. Nasheed said the members were inside the parliament grounds but were refusing to enter the hall.

"I don't see where the quorum of the parliament has been reached. This is very sad. Therefore, I have to say that I cannot hold this session," Nasheed said after trying to start the session for the fourth time.

"We will try to hold the sitting tomorrow”.

Before adjourning the session for the third time to see if it could start, Nasheed said some MDP members had signed their attendance at Monday's session. After signing in attendance, Nasheed also announced the names of the MDP members who were not present in the Majlis. They include:

Announcing that the sitting could not be held again due to lack of quorum, Nasheed expressed concern over the absence of the members.

"I think, I may not have experience in giving advice to a political party. However, I can say that if you think that not attending parliament will increase your popular vote, it is a mistake," Nasheed said.

Nasheed said they would get get support and love of the people by attending parliamentary sessions and participating in debates. He also reminded the members that it is the responsibility of the parliament to hold the government accountable.

"It is also up to this parliament to advocate on behalf of the people. I told the honourable members that it would be difficult for them to win the support of the people in the elections without coming to parliament," Nasheed said.

It is also scheduled to begin the debate on a motion moved by PNC MP from Maduvvari constituency, Adam Shareef, urging the government to start the process of recovering the lost sea territory from the Maldives. The opposition alleged that the MDP MPs did not attend the meeting as they wanted tp avoid debating on the issue.

However, the MDP denies that.