President Abdulla Yameen will deliver the presidential address at the first session of parliament for this year, due to commence Wednesday night 9:00p.m. at Dharubaaruge.
Parliament secretariat confirmed that all the MPs have been notified of Wednesday night’s sitting.
According to the Constitution, at the beginning of the first session of each year at the first sitting, the president is to address the parliament on the state of the country, and may present proposals for improving the state of the country to the parliament.
The Constitution also states that the first sitting of the first session of parliament should be held within the first week of February; as such, it was initially scheduled for February 5. However, after the president declared a state of emergency on that date, the parliament sitting was cancelled.
The state of emergency has since been extended by 30 days, and is due to expire March 20.
Since the state of emergency was declared, the Supreme Court has ordered a stay on enforcing its landmark ruling on February 1 to reinstate 12 lawmakers who were unseated for floor-crossing.
The Supreme Court, with the concession of three Justices, had even overturned its ruling to release nine high-profile political prisoners, after the president declared a state of emergency and subsequently arrested two of the top court’s judges, including Chief Justice Abdullah Saeed and have since been charged with conspiring to overthrow the government and bribery.
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