PPM leadership confident opposition will not be successful in impeaching President

Ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Thursday claimed that despite the numerous efforts made by the opposition, securing the 57 votes required to impeach President Abdulla Yameen would be impossible.

The Constitution of the Maldives states that the president can only be impeached after a resolution to remove the president is passed from the parliament with a two-third majority of the total membership of the parliament. With the current membership of the current parliament, the required number of votes to oust the president would be 57 votes.

While the ruling PPM and Maldivian Development Alliance (MDA) coalition has a total of 41 seats in the parliament, the opposition has secured the votes of 44 lawmakers.

Speaking at a press conference, PPM’s deputy leader and Fonadhoo MP Abdul Raheem Abdullah referred to President Yameen as the “captain” and assured that the voyage embarked with the captain would be successfully completed this year and that it would embark on a second journey this November.

MP Abdul Raheem claimed that the PPM parliamentary group would not allow the opposition to overthrow the government through the parliament and warned that they were diligently keeping watch of the opposition’s every manoeuvre.

MP Abdul Raheem had also fired criticism at former President Mohamed Nasheed, saying that his attempts at winning over the security forces would not be successful as he was not a popular figure amongst the police and the military of the country.

According to PPM's deputy leader, the opposition-led "judicial coup" was averted because the security forces supported and followed the guidance of President Yameen.

He also assured that government ministers would not resign and were standing firm with the president.

Meanwhile, PPM's parliamentary group leader and Villimale MP Ahmed Nihan also went on to accuse the opposition of making numerous attempts to impeach the president, which has remained unsuccessful. He also added that any future coup attempts would have the same fate.

MP Nihan accused the opposition of working to prevent tourists from visiting the country. He stressed that such attempts had remained unfruitful as most resorts in the country were fully booked. He also claimed that the perpetrators of the alleged coup were losing ground abroad.