We don’t have the authority to annul parties with less than 3000 members- EC
-Funds for 6 parties have been suspended this year

The Elections Commission (EC) has said that in Maldives there exist political parties with less than 3000 members. The commission however said that they do not have the authority to annul such parties.

President of the Elections Commission, Fuwad Thaufeeg said that in some cases many members of certain parties annul their membership from the parties. He said that such parties have very few members now registered under them. He said that even though the situation is as such, the Elections Commission does not have the power to terminate these parties from the register of the political parties.

Fuwad Thaufeeg underscored the importance of amending the laws concerning the political parties in order to take the necessary steps against politically inactive parties. He said that the commission has sent a draft of the amended laws to the Peoples Majlis.

He said that the commission’s amendments include the amendment to terminate any party has less than 3000 members after giving them a given period to achieve 3000 members minimum.

President of the Elections Commission further said that all political parties are required to submit their audit reports annually to the commission. He said that many of the existing political parties fail to submit the audit reports. He said that the commission has now decided to take steps against such parties as well.

Earlier the commission used to charge a fine for failing to submit the audit reports. He said that the commission then deducted the amount from the funds given to parties. However, the commission now has decided to suspend funds from those parties who fail to submit the annual audit reports.

The Elections Commission suspended funds from 3 parties this year for not submitting the audit reports. They are Social Liberal Party (SLP), Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) and Maldivian National Congress (MNC).

The commission has also decided to suspend funds from politically inactive parties even if they submit audit reports. This year, the commission has suspended the funds of Maldivian Social Democratic Party (MSDP), Peoples’ Party (PP) and Maldivian Labour Party (MLP) for being politically inactive.