The Solomon Islands National Parliament has rejected a petition from anti-corruption groups to have MPs defer the Constituency Development Fund 2013 Bill.
The rejection this morning paved the way for debate on the bill to continue.
The petition by Transparency Solomon Islands, Forum Solomon Islands International and the Anti-Corruption Network, and signed by 602 people, was presented to Parliament by the MP for Aoke-Langalanga, Mathew Wale.
The majority of MPs opposed the petition.
But MPs did accept copies of the petition and took notes of its contents.