The Attorney General has filed a constitutional case at the Supreme Court seeking to nullify the amendment to the parliamentary regulations that altered how seats are counted.
The Constitution of the Maldives and the parliamentary regulations specify that the President and Vice President can be removed by a two-thirds vote of the total number of members of Parliament, which is 58 out of 87 members.
However, an amendment to the parliamentary regulations last year stated that if a seat becomes vacant, the seat will not be counted. Since then, seven members resigned to take up various government positions, bringing down the total number of parliament members to 80. This has resulted in the required number of votes to remove the President and Vice President lowering to 54.
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) argued that the amendment to the parliamentary regulations on December 18 was unconstitutional as it altered the definition of the phrase 'total number of members of Parliament.' The AGO clarified that excluding vacant seats for any reason is contrary to the Constitution."