PPM sees exit of 7,400 members since Nov 2023

The Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) – part of the ruling coalition - has not made any effort to boost its membership since the incumbent administration took office last year, but has in fact seen the exit of over 7,400 members during the period.

In contrast, the main ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) is on a mission to boost its membership to 100,000.

As per the Elections Commission (EC)’s records, the PPM had 34,694 members as of September 19.

In response to a Right to Information (RTI) request filed by Sun, the PPM disclosed that it has not made by effort to boost its membership since November 17, 2023.

PPM said that EC’s records show 7,416 members left the party between November 17, 2023, and November 21, 2024.

But the party did not provide any further information.

The PNC had just some 3,000 members when the PPM-PNC administration took office on November 17, 2023.

The PNC said it now has over 82,000 members registered to the party.

PNC aims to boost its membership to 100,000 – a feat that no political party has accomplished to date. The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), previously the country’s biggest party, had some 50,000 members as of September 19.

While it has made no efforts to boost its members, the PPM has three vice presidents; Defense Minister Mohamed Ghassan Maumoon, Fisheries Minister Ahmed Shiyam, and Foreign Minister Dr. Abdulla Khaleel – who was elected to the role in October.

The PPM, registered in 2011, had once been the dominant out of the two parties in the ruling coalition. The PNC was founded by former Maldivian president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom in 2019, amid a legal dispute over the ownership of PPM. Yameen would go on to win the case, after which PNC operated as PPM’s sister party. But after PPM’s presidential candidate, the then-jailed Yameen’s was disqualified from running in the 2023 elections. The then-opposition coalition decided to produce a candidate from PNC – President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu – who would go on to win the election.

Following his election win, President Muizzu was quickly elected as PNC’s president, and the party grew more prominent, outshining PPM. Meanwhile, Yameen, who had been the leader of PPM and headed the coalition, left the coalition to form a new party, the People’s National Front (PNF), after accusing the leadership of deliberately sidelining him.

Following its victory in the 2023 presidential elections, PNC went on to win big in this year’s parliamentary elections as well as the Male’ City by-elections, though it did concede the mayor seat to the MDP.

Yameen has repeatedly accused the ruling coalition of admitting members from the PPM to PNC to boost its membership.