A proposed amendment to the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure would require resolutions to be put to a vote for acceptance before initial debate begins.

The amendment to Article 191 was submitted by Thulhaadhoo constituency MP Abdul Hannan Abubakr as an independent member.

Under the current rules, resolutions generally follow the same procedure as bills, with initial debate taking place before the resolution is accepted by the Parliament and referred to the relevant committee. Unlike bills, resolutions do not require presidential ratification.

Under the proposed amendment, the Parliament would vote on whether to accept a resolution before beginning debate. If the resolution is not accepted, no further debate would take place and it would be rejected.

The change could allow a parliamentary majority to reject resolutions without debate.

Majlis Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla has referred the proposed amendment to the General Committee for review.