Parliament okays president's impeachment with opposition votes alone
54 votes will be required to impeach the president or vice president from office in the 19th parliament.
By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
Parliament on Monday passed an amendment to the rules of procedure of the parliament to allow the president or vice president to be impeached by the vote of the opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) members alone in the current 19th parliament.
In Monday's sitting:
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The amendment approved by the parliament's general committee was passed by 42 votes
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21 members voted against it
With the passage of the amendment, 54 votes will be required to impeach the president or vice president from office in the 19th parliament. The main opposition MDP has 55 members.
According to the constitution, two-thirds of the total number of members in parliament is required to impeach the president and vice president. Based on the total number of seats in the 19th parliament, a two-third majority is 58 votes.
According to the amendment proposed by MDP:
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The total number of members of the parliament shall be based on the number of sitting MPs
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Seven PPM-PNC and MNP members resigned to take over the new government's cabinet and some senior posts
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The parliament currently has 80 members; a two-third majority is 54 votes
After next year's parliamentary elections, there will be 93 seats. In the 20th parliament, a two-third majority will be 62 votes.
In addition, the committee passed amendments to Articles 202 and 203 of the rules of procedure of the parliament relating to the removal of the president or vice president from office.
The second amendment passed by the general committee was moved by The Democrats Parliamentary Group Leader Ali Azim. Azim moved to remove some paragraphs of Article 202, which deals with the rules relating to the impeachment motion of the president and the vice president, to add new paragraphs and to amend some paragraphs of Article 203, which relates to the work of the committee on such resolution.
Hisan Hussain of Thulhaadhoo constituency also proposed amendments to the committee report that approved Azim's proposal.
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It was passed by 43 votes
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10 members voted against
According to the amendments:
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Notice of an impeachment motion shall be given to the president or vice president within two days excluding public holidays, of receipt of the motion; after the expiry of the 14-day notice, the should shall be tabled in parliament on the earliest working day; the article does not specifically state that such a motion should be put on the agenda within a specific date
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The debate in parliament on the should shall not, in any case, exceed three hours; the president or vice president will be given 30 minutes to defend themselves, while the remaining two hours and 30 minutes will be given to MPs to debate
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A seven-member committee shall be constituted to investigate the allegations; earlier, the rules were for an 11-member committee and it should have at least one member from each political party and an independent member
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The president or vice president shall have the right to appear and defend themselves before the committee; a maximum of three lawyers may be used in defence
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If the committee summons any person for questioning or wants to obtain a document for its inquiry into the resolution, at least two hours’ notice should be given
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The committee must complete its work on the motion within a maximum of five days of receipt of the matter and send it to the speaker; with that, the report must be sent to the president or vice president for response and a written reply must be sent within two days
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The committee must vote on the report within five days of sending it to the speaker
