An additional sitting was scheduled on Sunday, November 12 to address parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed's no-confidence motion.
Despite multiple attempts to advance the motion in previous sittings, it was finally included on the agenda for Sunday's sitting following the recent Supreme Court verdict.
However, The Democrats, to which Nasheed belongs to, rejected the motion citing it lacked a preamble thereby rendering it unlawful.
The sitting abruptly concluded with Vilufushi MP Hassan Afeef, who presided as chair of the sitting, declared the motion was in violation of the parliament regulation.
Following this, Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) parliamentary group said it received notification from parliament secretariat of an additional hearing on 11:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, with the agenda for the sitting put on the parliament's website.
It was reported that Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla would preside as the chair for the sitting.
While members have said Afeef's decision during Sunday's sitting was against parliament Secretary General's advise, he said that the verdict from the Supreme Court regarding the MDP-filed lawsuit has altered the proceedings of the parliament.
"Previously we followed Article 265 of the regulation which states that the Deputy Speaker will preside as chair on such matters [no-confidence against the Speaker], but the Supreme Court's decision has set a different precedent," he said.
He further said the top court's precedent will reflect other relevant provisions of the regulation as well.
"As such, I accept the point of order submitted by Central-Henveiru MP Ali Azim. This motion has not been submitted according to the regulation, so I order the motion to be resubmitted with rectification, we conclude the matter for now."
During the second sitting, Eva Abdulla, who presided as the chair, upheld Afeef's decision of dismissing the no-confidence motion, deeming it lacking legal characteristics.
Immediately after commencing the sitting, Eva noted that the issue on agenda had already been tabled in the previous sitting for which a decision had been arrived.
"The issue has already been dismissed by the chair of the sitting held at 09:00 a.m. today, deeming it against the regulation. As such, I do not believe there is any need to proceed with the same issue again today. The parliament chair dismissed the motion earlier through a point of order already," Eva said while concluding the second sitting.
The parliament's secretariat was not available for comment on the matter, though it has been learned that the secretariat believed the issue could be proceeded at the parliament due to which it was tabled for Sunday.
The attempts from members of The Democrats to halt the initial sitting on Sunday was countered by MDP members leading to a loud commotion within the chambers.
The issue of Speaker Nasheed's no-confidence motion has become contentious, with the matter repeatedly being tabled on the agenda but experiencing continued delays.
Meanwhile, the outgoing ruling party alleges that Nasheed was intentionally prolonging his dismissal until the new government takes charge.
The Supreme Court in its verdict on the constitutional lawsuit also said, that there was no legal obstruction to his presence at the oath-taking ceremony of President-elect Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.
Nasheed has hinted that there may be attempts to stall the motion until Dr. Muizzu's oath-taking scheduled for Friday, November 17.
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