Kendhoo constituency MP Ali Hussain has reflected on Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling validating the anti-defection bill, which disqualifies parliamentarians that switch parties.

The lawmaker said this during the Joint Opposition’s rally calling for judicial and parliamentary independence as well as President Abdulla Yameen’s resignation.

MP Hussain, during the rally held at Jumhooree Party’s headquarters Kunooz, said that lawmakers aligned with the opposition already have a ‘noose around their necks’ and that the anti-defection bill ‘only served to tighten it’.

“It is unfortunate that the noose around the necks of my colleagues has been tightened” the lawmaker said.

While the anti-defection bill is welcomed by a number of Maldivians, according to the census expressed on social networking platforms, the date to which it is backdated to take effect is July of last year.

This date has instigated allegations against the state of passing the bill selectively to penalize lawmakers that have since aligned themselves against the government.