Representative of Villigili constituency in Parliament, Saud Hussain on Monday expressed his gratitude to his constituents for staying resilient after he was unseated by the Elections Commission of the Maldives.

While 14 months have passed since the 12 opposition-aligned lawmakers were dismissed by the commission, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled to keep four of the 12 dismissed MPs in Parliament, including Saud.

The 12 former ruling party lawmakers were prohibited from attending parliament sittings since July 2017 for floor-crossing.

The MP stated that the constituents have learnt a lesson from what happened to the Parliament following the court’s ruling.

Alongside Saud, representative of Thulusdhoo, Waheed Ibrahim, Dhiddhoo constituency MP Abdul Latheef Mohamed and Maduvvari constituency MP Mohamed Ameeth have also been reinstated by the court.

Court trials are yet to begin in the cases of the other eight unseated MPs.

While their defection gave the opposition clear majority in parliament, they were unseated so as to quash a no-confidence motion against Speaker Abdulla Maseeh. Since then, Parliament sessions have convened only to pass important bills proposed by the current government and confirm appointments of individuals nominated to state positions by the President Abdulla Yameen.

The Elections Commission had earlier in October, reversed the decision to unseat the lawmakers until a verdict is heard by the court, following which the Supreme Court had initially decreed to nullify EC’s decision, declaring that the Maldives constitution gives the Supreme Court the authority to make a final ruling on the issues of reinstating the MPs.