The Elections Commission has requested the Finance Ministry to disburse MVR 32.9 million to political parties from this year's budget.
Four political parties are eligible to receive state funding this year. They are the main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), ruling coalition partners Jumhooree Party and Adhaalath Party, and the opposing Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).
An official from the Elections Commission Sunday said a request was made at the Finance Ministry at the end of last month to disburse funds to JP and PPM. Last week, an additional request was made to disburse the funds to MDP and Adhaalath Party, he said.
The Elections Commission requests the Finance Ministry to release funds after verifying required documents submitted at the commission by eligible parties. These include annual and audit reports.
As per the Political Party Act, funds must be deposited to political parties before the end of the first quarter of the year. While the aforementioned period has ended, it is unclear whether the funds have been deposited as AVAS could not get a comment from the Finance Ministry regarding the matter.
As per the Political Party Act, the funds issued to political parties must be between 0.1 and 0.2 percent of the total national budget for the year. A party must have 10,000 members to qualify for state funding.
Political parties and details of funding
MDP: MVR 15,024,009.6 - 54,660 members
PPM: MVR 9,410,483.51 - 34,237 members
JP: MVR 5,526,669.75 - 20,107 members
AP: MVR 2,900,903.79 - 10,554 members
