Ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Monday announced plans to provide financial assistance to party candidates contesting in the upcoming local council elections.
Speaking to reporters shortly after the PPM council made the decision, party spokesperson Ali Arif said the council had discussed ways to aid its candidates for the council polls slated for April 15.
Without going into detail of the discussions, the Kelaa MP Arif said the council had decided to provide financial assistance in addition to aid the candidates to make campaign material.
"Each candidate must spend a lot on the campaign. So the party has decided to provide some aid for that. We've also come up with a policy under which it would be done. In that regard we've set an individual figure for island, Atoll and city councils. Then we would look at the island population," Arif explained.
PPM had announced that 531 candidates would be contesting the elections. The figure however, does not include candidates from the government coalition partners Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).
