Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed has suggested that there is a likelihood that several MPs from the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) will switch to the main opposition, PPM, in the upcoming days.
At Tuesday's Parliament session, as MPs debated the reconstitution of the Parliament's standing committees, Nasheed emphasized the need to reconstitute the committees despite frequent changes to the committees. Referring to MDP and hinting at possible defections in the event of a change in government or in the lead-up to it, he said it is extremely likely that many MDP MPs would defect to PPM in the near future.
The Democrats, to whom President Nasheed belongs, have 12 seats in the Parliament. However, only three members are currently registered as Democrats: Ali Azim (Henveiru Central MP), Hussain Firshan (Madaveli MP), and Imthiyaz Fahmy (Maafannu North MP). Once all twelve members are officially registered, The Democrats would become the minority party in Parliament. The reason for the delay in registering all members as Democrats remains unclear. According to Nasheed, establishing a parliamentary group for The Democrats will take some time.
While PPM is the current minority party with five members, their sister party, the PNC, has three members in Parliament.
