Can the Maldives Opposition Impeach Muizzu?

According to media reports on Monday, the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) intends to submit a motion to impeach pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu. 

The People’s National Congress (PNC) and the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), which form the government coalition, declared that they would not permit attempts to remove President Mohamed Muizzu to go forward through Parliament. According to media reports on Monday, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the main opposition party in the Maldives with a majority in Parliament, is preparing to file a motion to remove Mohamed Muizzu from office.

The Edition.mv said that PPM Parliamentary Group (PG) leader Ahmed Saleem (Redwave Saleem), who represents the Eydhafushi constituency, stated in a press conference on Monday that the coalition would thwart any attempts by the MDP to remove President Muizzu from his position.

“We will not allow them any opportunities to go ahead with this. They will have to kill us all first before they can even think of removing the President from office,” Ahmed Saleem was quoted as saying.

The coalition asserted that regardless of the wishes of the MDP, which holds a majority in parliament, and their breakaway party, The Democrats, such an event would not be permitted to take place. This development occurs one day after pro-government and opposition MPs clashed in Parliament on Sunday over disagreements over the nomination of four members of the pro-China President’s cabinet.

The pro-government MPs from the PPM/PNC alliance started a protest, disrupting the parliamentary session, after the MDP and The Democrats’ parliamentary group decided to withhold parliamentary approval for four members of Muizzu’s cabinet prior to the voting.

“The MDP, in partnership with the Democrats, have gathered enough signatures for an impeachment motion. However, they have yet to submit it,” Sun.com said, quoting a lawmaker from the MDP.

The MDP’s parliamentary group meeting on Monday resulted in a unanimous decision to file an impeachment motion, according to The Edition.mv. In September of last year, Muizzu, 45, emerged victorious over incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who was friendly with India.

According to MP Ahmed Thoriq, it is clear from the outcome of the most recent presidential election that the MDP does not control the current state of affairs in the nation.

The MDP’s attempts to remove the Muizzu, according to Thoriq, are pointless because some of their members have already voted against the party’s line during Monday’s cabinet approval votes.

“That in itself proves that MDP does not in actuality have the numbers they want,” he said.

In order to remove an incumbent president from office, parliament must vote 53 times in favor. It is not possible to reach that number, according to Thoriq, even if all MDP and Democratic members are added together. He expressed his belief that there are members of both parties who would not participate in such a vote.

Muizzu officially asked India to remove 88 military personnel from the Maldives by March 15 shortly after taking office as president on November 17. He claimed the Maldivians had given him a “strong mandate” to make this request to New Delhi.

In order to facilitate the submission of an impeachment motion, the 87-member Maldivian Parliament recently modified its standing orders. There are 56 MPs between the MDP and Democrats: 43 MPs from the MDP and 13 from the Democrats.

“The Constitution, along with the Parliament’s standing orders, dictates that the president can be impeached with 56 votes,” the Sun.com reported.

A day after the PPM-PNC alliance, supported by 23 lawmakers, filed motions of no confidence against Speaker Mohamed Aslam and Deputy Speaker Ahmed Saleem (both MDP), the group is gathering signatures for an impeachment motion against the President.