Sacking The Democrats signatories is loss to people: Nasheed

MDP president Mohamed Nasheed on Sunday defended MDP activists who were sacked from their political positions in the government after they signed up to The Democrats, a new political party led by Nasheed.

The government has terminated several former MDP members in government positions who crossed over to Nasheed's breakaway party. Nasheed took to Twitter on Sunday, expressing his disappointment.

Nasheed, who is also the speaker of parliament, said the activists were young men who worked hard to bring the current MDP government to power for a "five-year term".

"(These youth) are capable people who know how to implement an MDP manifesto. Their expulsion is a loss to the people," said Nasheed, who is working on forming a new political party while still in MDP.

Nasheed has led his Fikuregge Dhirun faction in MDP to form a new party, but he has not left MDP yet.

The government's justification in sacking political appointees who signed up to The Democrats is that they are being removed because MDP has asked for it. This is because they were appointed to these posts in party slots and they are no longer party members, the government said.