Former President Mohamed Nasheed has stated that incumbent President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayoom ‘is not going to avoid Maseeh impeachment by manufacturing fake news’.

He made the statement in a tweet posted on Saturday.

The tweet was made in response to the rumors that had surfaced late on Friday that three Parliamentarians from opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had defected to the ruling Government coalition.

In response to these claims, Nasheed said President Yameen cannot hope ‘to avoid Maseeh impeachment by manufacturing fake news’. He added that the joint parties are moving ahead and that no MPs had left the opposition coalition.

Social media posts claim that Vaikaradhoo Constituency MP Mohamed Nazim, Mulaku Constituency MP Ibrahim Naseer and Felidhoo Constituency MP Ahmed Marzooq had left MDP. The three had denied these rumors.

Nazim said these rumors were designed to create chaos, confusion and fear among the public. He added that this was a sign that ruling PPM had accepted their defeat in the Speaker no confidence vote.

MP Marzooq said this was a sign of how desperate the ruling coalition was, adding that he will cast his vote against Speaker Abdullah Maseeh.

MP Naseer assured that the rumors were false, stating that neither he nor his vote was up for sale.

The no confidence motion on Speaker Maseeh was resubmitted to the Parliament last week, with the signatories of 45MPs. This includes 11 MPs from PPM.

The Parliament Secretariat had scheduled the vote for the 24^th of this month.