Maduvarri constituency MP Ahmed Ameeth has said that if the President believes that parliamentarians defecting sides is a coup, "then President Abdulla Yameen was guilty of it first".

Ameeth, along with six other lawmakers who the Elections Commission (EC) has deemed to have lost their parliamentary seats due to the controversial Supreme Court ruling, held a press conference on Monday night.

He said that President Yameen has taken 15 parliamentarians, elected through other parties, to the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) in the past four years.

Noting that if the President believes that defecting from one party to the other is a coup, MP Ameeth said that "the President Yameen was guilty of it first".

Ameeth added that there is no law in the country, that says that defecting parties or joining the opposition is a coup.

The parliamentarian also said that they intended to file complaints at the relevant authorities, regarding the President's continued accusations against them.

Furthermore, Ameeth warned the ruling party that more members will defect to the opposition. He said that President Yameen is aware of this, and that the only reason that remain with his faction "is because of fear of losing their seats in parliament".

MP Ameeth added that the ruling party MPs have become "slaves to PPM's Ethics Committee".