Amendments easing impeachment of the president passed

The amendments to articles 49, 202 and 203 of the parliament’s regulations which ease the process of impeaching the president have been approved by parliament, as proposed by the General Purpose Committee. 

The amendment to Article 49 which provided that the total number of members of parliament should be calculated based on the total number of members and not seats was put forth by Ihavandhoo MP Mohamed Shifau, a lawmaker representing MDP.

His amendment sought to omit the members who have resigned while calculating the total number of members of the parliament.

Meanwhile, the amendments to articles 202 and 203 were proposed by the parliament group leader of the Democrats, Central Henvieru MP Ali Azim;

• The impeachment of the president or the vice president can only be proceeded once a motion, explaining the reason, with the signatures of one-third of the members is submitted

{Existing procedure)

• Giving 14-day notice of the motion to the president or the vice president within two days, and tabling the motion for the first working day after the expiration of the notice period
• Allocating a maximum of three hours for the debate on the impeachment motion

Additionally, the number of members on the committee the motion needs to be forwarded to after the floor passes the impeachment motion has been decreased from 11 to four. Prior to this, all political parties must be represented on the committee. The new amendment has omitted this requirement.

During debate, some members, with reference to Shifau’s amendment, argued that the total number of members cannot be revised through an amendment to the regulation while the constitution specifies the total number of members.

Thulhadhoo MP Hisan Hussain further amendments to Azim’s amendments, to allow the president and the vice president to advocate on their defense during the investigation of the impeachment.

As per Hisaan’s amendment, the president and the vice president can appear before the committee to speak. Meanwhile, the committee must send a notice, two hours prior, if they want to summon the president or the vice president before them.

The amendment also proposed to change the timeframe under which the committee must send their report on their probe into the impeachment to the parliament speaker to five days and a grant a two-day period for the president and the vice president to respond in writing. A vote must be asked for the report within a week.

At Monday’s parliamentary sitting, a vote was first asked on adopting the amendments proposed by Hisaan to the General-Purpose Committee’s report. It was approved by the votes of 45 members out of the 55 members who participated in the vote. Ten voted against adopting the amendments.

Secondly, a vote was asked on accepting the amendments proposed by General Purpose Committee, which was approved by the votes of 45 members out of the 55 members who participated in the vote. Ten voted against adopting the amendments.

Therewith, the amendments to articles 202 and 203 of the parliament’s regulations as proposed by Azim, have been adopted, alongside the further amendments from Hisan.

A separate vote was asked for the amendments proposed by Shifau on calculating the total number of parliament members. 42 out of 62 members in attendance voted in favor of passing the amendment while 21 members voted against passing the amendment.

This will place the total number of members of the parliament for the remainder of the 19^th session at 80 as seven members had resigned to assume posts in the new administration. Elections Commission (EC) had decided against holding by-elections for the vacant seats as the parliamentary election for the 20^th session is slated for early next year.

Henceforth, the president can now be impeached with the votes of 53 members. As MDP has 56 members in the parliament, it is possible to impeach the president with the votes of the main opposition party alone. The changes come at a time when some MDP members have called to impeach the incumbent president.

Speaking at Monday’s sitting, MDP MP Shifau said he would submit the matter of the impeachment to the party’s parliamentary group.

The current composition of the parliament is as follows;

• MDP – 56 MPs
• The Democrats – 13 MPs
• PPM – 2 MPs
• PNC – 2 MPs
• Jumhoory Party – 2 MPs
• MDA – 2 MPs
• Independent – 2 MPs

Reasons an impeachment motion can be initiated against the president or the vice president are as follows;

• Violation of the tenet Islamic religion
• Violation of the constitution
• Misconduct unsuited to the office of the president or the vice president
• Incapacity in undertaking the responsibilities of the president or the vice president

No Maldivian president has been impeached to date. However, two vice presidents were impeached during PPM’s first administration.