PPM secures 50 percent in parliament after MP Nazim Rashad joins the party

Ruling party, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has said that they now have 50 percent of the seats in the parliament, following the decision by Thulhaadhoo MP Nazim Rashad to join the party.

Nazim Rashad won the Thulhaadhoo seat at the Parliamentary Election in March 2014 on the ticket of opposition party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

His defection from MDP to PPM means PPM now has 42 seats in the parliament.

The most number of seats held by a single party in the parliament prior to this was 38 – by MDP during its leader Mohamed Nasheed's presidency.

PPM is now short of one seat to have majority in the 85-member parliament.

Since Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) has five seats, the government coalition, made up of PPM and MDA, has majority in the parliament with 47 seats.

PPM Parliamentary Group Leader Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik told Sun Online that even though PPM now has 50 percent of the seats in the parliament, the party would not act as a rubber stamp for all propositions put forward by the government.

He assured that the PPM parliamentary group will work for the economic, political and social betterment of the people.

Nazim Rashad was first elected to the previous (17th) parliament as an independent member. He joined MDP on 17 February 2010.

Following his decision to join PPM, the number of seats held by MDP is now 23 - a new low for the party since Nasheed's presidency.