Party membership application to be shifted to e-Faas amid mounting complaints

Elections Commission (EC) announced on Thursday that they are working on amending policies to shift political party membership applications to e-Faas amid mounting complaints of fraudulent enrollment in political parties using fake forms.

EC member Hassan Zakariyya told Sun that, since the second quarter of last year, the Commission has received more than 300 complaints from the public regarding fraudulent enrollment in political parties with fake forms, with the complaints continuing up until last week.

According to Zakariyya, the issue is not observed from one specific party, with enrollment of members with fake forms observed from most political parties.

He added that some of these cases have been submitted to Maldives Police Service for investigation.

Zakariyya said the Commission is undertaking efforts to resolve the issue. In this regard, he detailed that EC was working on amending policies to shift political party membership applications to e-Faas. Noting that amendment of laws and regulations takes time, he stressed that EC was nevertheless working to complete the work at the earliest.

Enrollment of individuals to political parties using falsified forms had come to light a while ago. Subsequently, EC has implemented measures to implement this. In this regard, the general public can check whether they are enrolled in any political party via SMS. 

As the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) undertakes efforts to increase its membership, it also stands accused of fraudulently enrolling members to the party using fake forms.

PNC plans to increase its membership to 100,000. The party has significantly increased its membership within the span of one year. When the current administration assumed office in November 2023, the party had a membership of a mere 3,000.

Main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party has alleged that MDP members were being fraudulently enrolled in PNC – an allegation that has been denied by ruling party.

Notably, former Manadhoo MP Mohamed Thoriq (Manadhoo Thoriq) who has actively been on the frontlines of MDP since the party’s inception has filed a police complaint claiming he was fraudulently enrolled as a member of PNC.