Opposition parliamentarian Ahmed Mahloof has criticized President Abdulla Yameen over his government’s case with the Supreme Court which imposed a floor-crossing ban, describing his support for it as hypocritical.

“President Yameen has forgotten how he defected from his own party when he was a sitting MP” Mahloof said.

In an interview to RaajjeMV, Mahloof said that the President Yameen, who had represented the Mulaku constituency during his time in parliament, had first defected to the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party from the Progressive Party of Maldives and switched allegiances again.

Mahloof said how he did not ‘believe it was a problem when he did it’. The parliamentarian further said that President Yameen is severely misguided and that his team of advisors have led them to believe that Maldivians are gullible enough not to see through his political tactics.

As such, Mahloof said that this level of misguidedness ensures that he is unfit to make decisions on behalf of the Maldivian people and that the Yameen administration has effectively isolated the country in the international political and social spheres.

He then said that while the Supreme Court order imposing the floor-crossing ban clearly states that no sitting MPs would yet lose their seats – until they switch parties again or are dismissed, the Elections Commission announcing so is wholly unconstitutional.

“The Elections Commission has no constitutional mandate to terminate sitting MPs, them doing so is something they should be held accountable for and punished” Mahloof said.