One of the opposition aligned lawmakers who have been a prominent figure in their movement, had shunned rumors about his plans of pledging fealty incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.
The Nolhivaram MP Hussain Areef has been loud during the no-confidence motion of parliament Speaker Abdulla Maseeh during 2017. However he had since fallen silent and had moved away from making any public appearances.
Even on the night of February 1, when opposition supporters and its respective members made appearances at Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) camp to celebrate the Supreme Court order to release nine political prisoners as well as the annulment of anti-defection law, Areef was absent.
Areef was not seen among the opposition lawmakers who boycotted Monday's special sitting at parliament to approve the president-requested extension of 15-days to the state of emergency.
President Abdulla Yameen requires a minimum of 43 votes in approval to receive formal citation of extending the state of emergency to 15 more days, bringing the total length of it to 30. However ruling party aligned members at the parliament has slipped to 39 since the defection of as many as 12 lawmakers to the opposition.
However Progressive Party of Maldives' (PPM) parliamentary group leader Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik assured the party will have the support of 43 lawmakers to approve the emergency extension hinting some lawmakers were aligned to pledge support to president Yameen.
Areef was suspected to be among them since his sudden disappearance from the front-lines of the opposition.
However he broke the silence and confirmed he was not pledging allegiance to president Yameen and urged the ruling party to cease efforts in sending his friends in PPM to sway his stance.
Although Areef has been visibly absent from opposition movements as of late, he had however maintained a noteworthy presence during hearings of Dhiggaru constituency lawmaker Ahmed Faris Maumoon.
Since president Yameen was unable to receive parliament approval on Monday for the emergency extension rumors have sparked the ruling party was acquiring support through 'offers.' Jumhooree Party deputy leader Abdulla Riyaz had accused the state of attempting to bribe lawmakers to sway their support.
