Parliament's regulation has been revised granting Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) the power to impeach the President without requiring support from minority parties.
Under the parliamentary regulation, the President or the Vice-President can only be impeached with half of the parliament members' votes; meaning 58 votes out of the currently present 87 MPs.
Ihavandhoo MP Mohamed Shifau submitted the amendment that would revise the capacity required for the parliament's quorum and the number of members required for bills that demand a specific number of votes according to the Constitution.
The amendment states that the total count of the parliament for the current session should be 80, after excluding the MPs who resigned due to their appointment to government roles.
Following the resignation of seven MPs due to their government roles, the amendment seeks to set the total number of active MPs for the 19th parliamentary session at 80.
Although MP Shifau initially argued the decision was motivated to ensure uninterrupted proceedings of the parliament, his narrative h since changed.
While speaking at Monday's parliamentary sitting on December 18, MP Shifau argued that the top priority right now was the impeachment of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu. He added that he would submit the motion to MDP's parliamentary group for process.
"We need to think about how the government is operating today. Yesterday's act of removing the information on the Ministry of Economic Development's website is sufficient enough proof about the current administration's lack of compliance to the law," Shifau said.
Several members raised their concerns towards the MP's amendment during Monday's sitting as well.
Maamigili MP Qasim Ibrahim argued that while the parliament was moving for a possible impeachment of the President and Vice-President, neither the mandates of the ministries nor the consent for the cabinet have been approved. The MP criticized the parliament's majority party for allegedly abusing its parliamentary position to impeach the President.
"It is not an obligation for us to impeach the President in contradiction of the Constitution, and I urge to stop this cause immediately," MP Qasim said.
While some of the members that belong to the ruling party voiced their concerns on the issue, the amendment from MP Shifau was approved with 44 votes while 10 members voted against it, and one remained neutral.
After the amendment is passed and implemented, MDP will have the power to seek impeachment of the President and the Vice-President without requiring the support of other minority parties in the parliament. Following the amendment's parliamentary approval, an impeachment would require 54 votes while the current parliament session consists of 56 MDP members.
At Monday's sitting, the parliamentary majority party had also approved the parliament regulation amendment on the impeachment of the President and the Vice-President as well.
The amendment bill submitted by Central-Henveiru MP from The Democrats, Ali Azim, was approved, bringing alterations to Section 202 and 203 of the regulation.
According to the amendments, any impeachment resolution against the President or the Vice-President should be notified to the parliament MPs within two days, extending a 14-day period after which the matter must be scheduled for the parliament sitting.
The amendment also extends the impeachment debate from two hours to three hours, with both the President and the Vice-President granted 30 minutes each to respond in defense. Additionally, the President and the Vice-President may employ three advocates to defend the allegations, and would have the chance to respond during the committee stage.
The new amendment has also reduced the number of members required on the impeachment committee to seven, while the inclusion of all the parties represented at the parliament are not required to be selected for the committee.
Sign In
