It has been determined that resolutions submitted to the People's Majlis can only be debated in Parliament after a vote is taken on whether to accept the resolution and the resolution is accepted by Parliament.

This was decided by passing an amendment to Article 191 of the Parliament's rules of procedure, submitted by independent member and Thulhaadhoo constituency representative Abdul Hannan Aboobakuru during today's parliamentary sitting.

Today's sitting of the People's Majlis passed this amendment with 56 members voting in favor out of the 68 members present. However, 11 members—including 10 members from the opposition MDP and independent Addu Meedhoo constituency member Abdul Rahman—voted against passing the amendment.

Prior to this amendment, Article 191 of the rules of procedure stipulated that the procedure applicable to resolutions in Parliament was generally the same procedure applicable to bills. However, the rules also stated that once a resolution is passed by Parliament, it does not need to be sent for ratification in the manner bills are ratified.

Accordingly, resolutions had hitherto been handled such that when a member submitted a resolution, its first reading would be announced, and it would be opened for preliminary debate. Thereafter, in the manner bills are accepted by Parliament, the resolution would also be accepted by Parliament and sent to the relevant committee for review.

However, the amendment passed by Parliament today stipulates that the vote to accept a resolution into Parliament will be taken before the commencement of the resolution's preliminary debate. Debates on resolutions can only be conducted after they are accepted by Parliament. The amendment also states that if a resolution is not accepted by Parliament, there will be no further debate and the resolution will be considered canceled.

By altering the parliamentary rules of procedure in this manner, similar to procedures for emergency motions, if the majority present in Parliament does not see fit to debate a resolution submitted to the floor, an opportunity is created to dismiss the resolution from the parliamentary floor without a debate.