Two high profile figures linked to former President Abdulla Yameen have signed on to Jumhooree Party (JP).

Former Velidhoo constituency MP Yameen Rasheed and former vice president at the Maldives Broadcasting Commission (Broadcom) Ismail Sofwan signed with JP at a ceremony held on Tuesday, where its leader Qasim Ibrahim was in attendance.

Yameen, who won the Velidhoo seat through Maldivian Democratic Party in 2014, defected to former ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) about a year later. He later changed to former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb’s newly registered party, Maldives Third Way Democrats (MTD), in December 2018.

While Yameen had run for the Velidhoo seat again, through the new party, but lost to Mohamed Abdulla Shafeeg.

Sofwan is accused of helping the former president restrict media freedom during his time as the vice president of the broadcasting commission; he recently resigned from the post and the commission, amid an impeachment motion.

He was appointed to the commission by the PPM majority parliament in 2016, after being nominated by Yameen.

Back in August, JP signed four lawmakers that represented PPM during the 18th parliament tenure, as well as two senior officials from the previous administration.

They are; former Vice President Abdulla Jihad, former Home Minister Azleen Ahmed and former MPs Ahmed Nihan, Ali Arif, Ahmed Assad and Ibrahim Falaah.

Jumhooree Party is a ruling coalition partner.