Notice to be given to four political parties with insufficient number of members

Out of the political parties registered in Elections Commission’s (EC) registry – the Commission has decided to give notice for four parties with an insufficient number of members as stipulated in the Political Parties Act.

As per the Political Parties Act, a total of 3,000 members are required to be registered as a political party.

EC’s Vice President Ismail Habeeb told Sun today that the Commission had opted against strict adherence to the law in light of the state of health emergency announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Past two years have passed in a state of health emergency in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the status lifted, we have decided to give notice to political parties with an insufficient number of members,” he had said.

According to EC’s website, the four political parties which do meet the 3,000-member requirement are Maldives Reform Movement (MRM), Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Maldives Labor and Social Democratic Party (MLSD) and Maldives Thirdway Democrats (MTD).

Therefore, EC has decided to give a three-month notice for each party, to acquire the required number of members as per the Political Parties Act.

Habeeb said that should they fail to meet the 3,000-member requirement within these three months, EC will commence the process to dissolve the party.

Whilst there are 11 political parties registered in the register of political parties, the most number of members are there in the main ruling party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), being 54,660.

Second highest number of members are there in the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), being 34,237.

Jumhoory Party comes to third, with a total of 20,107 members. Adhaalath Party comes to fourth with 10,554 members.