Maldives: Muizzu administration in disarray, impeachment proceedings underway, disagreement over cabinet nomination

President Muizzu of the Maldives' administration now seems to be in disarray. The primary opposition group in the Maldives parliament, the MDP, intends to present a motion to remove President Mohamed Muizzu from office. It is then possible that Muizzu's government will collapse. This development occurred one day after a brawl between opposition and pro-government lawmakers broke out in Parliament on Sunday over the nomination of four ministers to President Muizzu's cabinet, who is pro-China. Notably, Muizzu's party does not hold a majority in the Parliament of the Maldives, where separate elections are held for the President and Parliament.

It is noteworthy that on Monday, in the parliamentary group meeting of MDP, the largest party in the Parliament of Maldives, the decision to present the impeachment motion was taken unanimously. The opposition MDP and the Democrats have a total of 56 MPs in the 87-member Maldivian Parliament, with the MDP having 43 MPs and the Democrats having 13 MPs. According to the Constitution of Maldives, the President can be impeached with 56 votes. On the other hand, the ruling coalition (PNC-PPM) has the support of 23 MPs.

The impact of the Indians' Maldives Boycott campaign is starting to be felt amid the tense relations between India and the Maldives. Indian tourists to the Maldives are now down from the top spot to the fifth, according to data from the Maldives Tourism Ministry. The diplomatic tension that has recently developed between the two nations is thought to be the primary cause of the fall in the number of Indian tourists visiting the Maldives. Media reports indicate that in 2023, approximately 11% of Maldivian tourists will come from India. There has been a decline in the number of Indian tourists visiting Maldives since the controversy sparked by PM Narendra Modi's visit to Lakshadweep on January 2 and his post regarding the beaches there.

According to data published by the Maldives Tourism Ministry, the total number of Indians who visited the country between January 1 and 28 was 13,989. Which is fifth compared to other countries. The countries with the largest number of tourists to the Maldives in the first 28 days of January were Russia (18,561), Italy (18,111) and China (16,529).

It is worth noting that, even though there was a decline in the number of tourists from India, the tourism sector of Maldives saw a growth of 11.9 per cent in January 2024 as compared to 2023. A total of 174,400 tourists visited the country till January 28, 2024, compared to 155,851 tourists during the same period in 2023.