The state has petitioned the Supreme Court over the changes brought to Parliament's rules of procedure concerning the impeachment process.
Attorney General Ahmed Usham confirmed to Adhadhu that a constitutional case was filed at the Supreme Court on Tuesday. But he declined to provide details.
According to the Constitution, the President and Vice President can be removed from office by a two-thirds majority of the total number of MPs. That is 58 out of the 87 MPs in the current session of the People's Majlis.
However, changes were brought by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) controlled parliament after seven pro-government MPs left their seats for ministerial jobs.
According to the changes, an impeachment vote can be taken by considering the number of MPs in attendance rather than the total number of MPs.
With the seven vacated seats, the total number of MPs stands at 80 instead of 87. This changed the majority needed to approve matters.
The President and Vice President can now be impeached with the votes of 54 MPs. At the time of the amendment, MDP had enough MPs to impeach the President.
This prompted expressions of concern from the government, supporters of the government and some members of the public.
Current composition of Parliament
- MDP: 44 MPs
- Democrats: 13 MPs
- PPM: 2 MPs
- PNC: 14 MPs
- JP: 2 MPs
- MDA: 2 MPs
- Independent (Includes 2 MNP MPs: 3 MPs
- Total: 80 MPs
The current composition in parliament means that the MDP and Democrats combined have 57 votes to impeach President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.
Adhadhu has learned that MDP has collected enough signatures to move the impeachment motion. The number of signatures needed to submit the motion is 26.
The MDP said it is working together with The Democrats. The opposition parties moved to impeach the President after MPs from the ruling coalition obstructed Parliament sittings over the decision to reject some ministerial appointees.
However, it is unclear whether the matter has been submitted to parliament.
