Parliament has shut down until the election is over, in spite of an agreement that had already been reached by the two sides of the House on next week’s agenda.

At the end of Wednesday’s sitting, Parliament was adjourned to 10 June – the Monday after the election.

Robert Cutajar, the Opposition whip, told The Malta Independent there had already been an agreement with the government whip, Naomi Cachia, on next week’s agenda.

The idea was that Parliament sittings should stop on 22 May and resume after the election, but the “government is in such a crisis” that it chose to bring the adjournment forward to 15 May, a week before what had been agreed.

The government has decided on its own to stop parliamentary sittings a week before the date agreed with the opposition, Cutajar said.