Azim: Amendment was not submitted with the intention of impeaching president

Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim, on Friday, stated that the amendment to parliament’s regulations which will allow the president and the vice president to be impeached only through the votes of lawmakers from the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was not proposed with the intention of impeaching the president.

Azim had proposed amendments to articles 202 and 203 of the parliament’s regulations to the General Purpose Committee; amendments which the committee greenlighted.

If these amendments are passed on the floor, MDP, which holds the parliament’s majority, can easily impeach the president or the vice president solely with their votes as the amendment eases the process surrounding the impeachment of the president and the vice president.

Speaking to Sun regarding why the amendments had been proposed at this particular time – Azim underscored that many reforms needed to be brought to not only the parliament’s regulations, but also the constitution.

He explained that the mentality of the members of his party, The Democrats, at this time, was to make important amendments to the parliament that are necessary.

In this trajectory, he said the amendments he proposed had been with the intention of producing a positive change. However, he noted that the present might not have been the most ideal moment to propose the amendments.

“The existing process of impeaching the president and the vice president being so difficult and lengthy is something we have always talked about. We are bringing many changes to the regulations of the parliament one way or the other. But as it happened, it had not been the right moment,” he said.

Azim, between the two rounds of September’s presidential election, had remarked that efforts would be initiated to impeach President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu following his election as soon as possible.

“The choice, as I see it, is to defeat Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the upcoming election [second round]. After defeating, then we will have to remove Muizzu from presidency as soon as possible,” he had said on September 18^th, during a meeting of The Democrats.

Commenting on his earlier statement, Azim, on Friday, described them as political remarks, adding that they were a reflection of Maldivians’ longstanding mentality of changing the incumbent leader to elect someone else, but not an individual capable of running a country.

“There is no intent of impeaching the present. The amendment was because there are important amendments that are needed now. Many believe there are a number of issues within the system,” he said.

Despite the amendment, opposition MDP and other parties have expressed their commitment to cooperate with the government with respect to parliamentary works.