A key vote at a parliamentary session in the parliament of the Maldives turned into a brawl on Sunday, The Telegraph reports.
Footage showed MPs trading kicks and pulling each other’s hair as they fought with opposition members near the speaker’s chair during proceedings at the.
The session descended into chaos after the main opposition, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), decided to withhold parliamentary approval for four members of newly-elected President Mohamed Muizzu’s cabinet ahead of a key vote.
Pro-government MPs from the People’s National Congress (PNC) and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) initiated the protest, obstructing the parliamentary sitting from proceeding.
A prolonged violent altercation then erupted MDP MP Isa and PNC MP Abdullah Shaheem Abdul Hakeem, in which Shaheem was seen gripping Isa’s leg and causing a fall.
In another incident, Isa is seen kicking Shaheem’s neck and pulling his hair. Other members were seen trying to pry the pair apart and break up the fight.
Muizzu won the presidential elections in September, but his party is in opposition in parliament, where the MDP and its allies have a two-thirds majority.