Speaker says he has abided by standing orders ; urges all parties to respect opinions of others

The Speaker´s office issuing a statement today gave a break down of the discussions that took place at the Party Leaders meeting as well as today´s Parliamentary sessions.

The statement explained that as the party leaders meeting convened to decide on the composition of the selection committee had ended inconclusively, the Speaker by the powers vested in him via standing orders intervened to clarify the number of members from each party towards the group.

Addressing a party leaders meeting today (Nov 23), the Speaker had urged all parliamentarians to respect each other’s opinion.

He had also elaborated on the measures that he has taken to safeguard parliamentary democracy since October 26.

Speaking further, he told the party leaders that 122 MPs representing four parties out of the six in Parliament had repeatedly pointed out that they had the majority.

He also explained that seven seats in the parliamentary committee of selection were allocated for the MPs belonging to these four parties as they had proven their majority in parliament. On the same note, the Speaker pointed out that only five seats were provided for the MPs representing the other two parties as they had failed to prove their majority in Parliament.

He also told MPs that he had always abided by the standing orders and acted as per 136/143 of the same which enabled the Speaker to finalise the list of members belonging to the Parliamentary Selection Committee.