The Parliament of the Maldives has made changes to the register of members after 12 parliamentarians left the main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
The Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has informed the Secretariat of the Parliament that the 12 parliamentarians have resigned from MDP. They are Deputy Speaker of Parliament Eva Abdulla, Hassan Latheef, Ilyas Labeeb, Mohamed Waheed, Imthiyaz Fahmy, Mohamed Rasheed, Hassan Afeef, Hussain Firshad, Yasir Abdul Latheef, Ahmed Zahir, Hassan Shiyan, and Ibrahim Rasheed. Their resignation from MDP will also lead to changes to the committees and the allocation of speaking time during debates.
The Parliament now consists of 55 members of MDP, five members of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), three members of the People’s National Congress (PNC), three members of the Maldives National Party (MNP), two members of Jumhooree Party (JP), two members of the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), and 17 independent members.