Maldives parliament goes into recess

The Maldives parliament has gone into recess for a month after just 13 sittings and two special parliamentary sessions.

Parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh did not announce the recess but Ahmed Nihan MP, from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives, did. He said in a tweet “the last sitting of majlis (parliament) for this term is in progress.”

Parliament has work on evidence, the Maldives Media Commission and education pending while additional bills are yet to be evaluated and processed.

Parliamentarians are paid a total of MVR82,500 (US$5,265) a month.

Majlis has received a lot of criticism for being inefficient, with the opposition blaming the ruling party and Maseeh. The ruling party, meanwhile, accuses the opposition of creating a voting backlog by boycotting parliamentary proceedings.

Regulations state that the first term is held from February through April. The second term should commence after a month-long recess.

The first legislative session of the year was due to begin during the first week of February but was delayed due to unspecified security reasons.

Photo: Twitter