Thursday
2nd May 2024
Dhivehi Edition
Members of the MDP Parliamentary Group. | Photo: People’s Majlis
The MDP has removed articles from an amendment to facilitate the impeachment of the President and have added a new amendment with the same content to the rule of procedure.
The amendment is being used to facilitate the removal of the President, as they seek to change the Rules of Procedure in order to lower the required number of MPs to pass a motion of no-confidence in the President, Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.
The Attorney General’s Office has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking to quash the amendments to Article 49(a) of the Rules of Procedure to exclude vacant seats from the calculation of the total number of members of Parliament.
The Supreme Court has issued an interim order staying the implementation of the provisions until the court decides on the case. The Speaker of the House, Mohamed Aslam, announced that the MDP Parliamentary Group will not comply with the order, stating that no branch of government should be able to tell the Parliament how to conduct itself.
On Thursday, the General Committee passed the amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament. After the articles were deleted, a new article was added to the Rules of Procedure with some changes to the contents of the articles.
The newly added provision states that in the event of a vacancy in parliament, if there is a period of less than six months between the date of vacancy and a general election, the total number of members of parliament shall be counted excluding those seats.
According to the law, a by-election can be held to elect a new member of Parliament to a vacant seat if there is a period of six months or more between the date of vacancy and the general election.
Once the new amendment is passed by the House, the total number of members of Parliament will be counted excluding those who have now resigned. The MDP will then use its majority in parliament to take a no-confidence vote on the president.
The total number of members of the Parliament is 87, with 7 seats now vacant and the MDP holding 42 seats, and the Democrats holding 13 seats, the two parties hold a number of seats higher than the two-thirds required to impeach the President. The Democrats consist of MPs who split off from main opposition MDP party during the last presidential election due to disagreements over party leadership.
The amendment to the Rules of Procedure passed by the General Committee will come into force after it is passed by the House.