Maldives opposition party readies to move impeachment motion against President Muizzu

The Opposition parties have hit out at the President for his pro-China position after a Chinese spy ship was granted permission by the government to dock in Male.

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu Photo | PTI

MALE: The main opposition MDP, which holds a majority in the Maldivian Parliament, is planning to submit a motion to impeach President Mohamed Muizzu, according to media reports on Monday.

The development comes a day after clashes broke out in Parliament on Sunday between pro-government MPs and opposition lawmakers over differences over the approval of four members of the pro-China President's cabinet.

After the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and The Democrats' parliamentary group decided to withhold parliamentary approval for four members of President Muizzu's cabinet ahead of the voting, the pro-government MPs from the ruling party Progressive Party of Maldives and People's National Congress (PPM/PNC) coalition initiated a protest, obstructing the parliamentary sitting.

“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 decision to submit an impeachment motion was taken unanimously in the parliamentary group meeting of the MDP held on Monday, The Edition.mv reported.

Muizzu, 45, defeated India-friendly incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the presidential runoff held in September last year.

Soon after taking oath as the President of Maldives on November 17, Muizzu formally requested India to withdraw 88 military personnel from his country by March 15, saying the Maldivian people have given him a "strong mandate" to make this request to New Delhi.

The Parliament, which has 87 members, had recently amended its standing orders to make it easier to submit an impeachment motion. The MDP and Democrats, together, have 56 MPs between them; 43 MPs from MDP, and 13 from Democrats.

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

The gathering of signatures for an impeachment motion against the President comes a day after the PPM-PNC coalition, with the endorsement of 23 lawmakers, submitted no-confidence motions against Speaker Mohamed Aslam and Deputy Speaker Ahmed Saleem – both from MDP.