Elections Commission (EC) has requested Finance Ministry to release the 2019 budget allocations for all political parties that qualify for government funding with the exception of opposing Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).
In a tweet published by the commission on Thursday, they stated that the four parties that qualify for funding are main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Jumhooree Party, Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) and PPM. However, the request to release funds did not include PPM according to their tweet.
When asked why the release of funding for PPM is being delayed, commission member Ahmed Akram said the Annual Report submitted by the party requires some adjustment, and the funding will be released as soon as the report is amended to include all necessary data and resubmitted.
According to the Political Party Act, all parties with a membership of over 10,000 members are qualified to receive government funding. While several new political parties were recently registered, none of these parties have been successful in increasing their membership to 10,000.
Commissioner of Elections Ahmed Shareef - Photo: Ahmed Shurau / AVAS
