Maldives: Top court gives relief to President Mohamed Muizzu, suspends impeachment amendment

According to local media reports, the Supreme Court on Thursday suspended a recent change to Parliament’s standing orders that had made it simpler for opposition legislators to impeach the president and vice president, providing a reprieve for Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu. According to the constitution, two-thirds of the members of Parliament must vote in favor of an impeachment motion against the president or vice president. Nevertheless, the House recently changed its standing orders to reduce the number of votes needed to file an impeachment motion, making it simpler to do so. On January 28, the Attorney General’s Office submitted the matter on the amendment to the Supreme Court. In addition, it requested an injunction to halt the modification until the court renders a decision. The report, which detailed the series of events leading up to the development, stated that the Election Commission had decided not to hold by-elections after seven lawmakers quit their seats in Parliament in November to take on high-ranking positions in President Muizzu’s administration, citing the impending parliamentary elections. The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which has a majority in the Parliament, took advantage of the situation and changed the standing orders of the legislature to exclude vacated seats from counting toward the overall number of MPs. As a result, the number of MPs needed to impeach President Muizzu was reduced from 58 to 54 votes, as the amendment would count 80 MPs overall rather than 87. Following their announcement in January of their intention to collaborate in the Parliament, the MDP and Democrats now have 56 MPs between them: 43 from the MDP and 13 from the Democrats. The Attorney General’s Office filed the case on January 28, the same day that the MDP-Democrats alliance blocked the approval of three members of President Muizzu’s cabinet and pro-government MPs and opposition lawmakers clashed in the House over disagreements over the approval of four cabinet members. The MDP declared that it would file a motion to remove President Muizzu the following day, on January 29, and that it had already begun collecting signatures on the document. The State’s request to revoke the modification to the Parliament Regulations was granted by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. In September last year, pro-China Muizzu, 45, ousted incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who had a more friendly approach towards India. Concerning the Muizzu government’s “anti-India stance,” the MDP and the Democrats referred to India as their “most long-standing ally” on January 24. The Maldives are strategically important due to their close proximity to India—just 70 nautical miles separates them from the island of Minicoy in Lakshadweep and 300 nautical miles separates them from the western coast of the mainland—and their strategic placement at the intersection of commercial sea lanes that traverse the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The Maldives is India’s principal maritime neighbor in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and plays a unique role in government programs such as the Neighbourhood First Policy of the Narendra Modi administration and SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region).