Amendment proposed to establish MP recall process

A constitutional amendment has been proposed to enable the removal of Members of Parliament if the constituents of the respective constituency vote against them.

Henveyru West MP Hassan Latheef, proposed to add more sections to Article 73 of the Constitution. The proposed amendment to the clause includes five circumstances under which a member of Parliament will lose their seat.

They are as follows:

- A member, through their own initiative, leaves or switches parties from the party through which they were originally elected

- An independently elected member joins a party

- Dismissal of a member according to the Party's Regulations if they vote against a party whip

- If a member is dismissed from a party for reasons unrelated to a parliamentary vote, constituents, through winning majority in a referendum, decide to remove the MP from their position

- If a determined percentage of constituents submit a petition seeking the MP's removal, removing them through winning majority in a referendum within constituents

Currently, there is no constitutional provision for the removal of a member of Parliament who serves a five-year term. MPs are the only positions for which the Constitution does not state principles for removal from office.

The Constitution outlines the circumstances in which a member of parliament may be dismissed. These include the failure to pay a debt and a criminal conviction of more than 12 months.

The Democrats have proposed to incorporate provisions for the removal of MPs into the Constitution.

However, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) proposed a separate legislation, an MP Recall Act, which states the procedure for members’ removal. The bill was accepted by the Parliament yesterday and referred to the committee for review and consideration.