Parties get MVR 27.9mn in state funding; PNC gets MVR 13mn

Elections Commission (EC) has announced the disbursement of MVR 27.9 million in state funding to political parties.

According to the Political Parties Act, the state is required to distribute an amount equivalent to 0.1 percent of the projected revenue in the annual state budget among parties that have 10,000 members or more.

In a statement on Monday, the EC announced that funds have been disbursed to five parties with minimum 10,000 members as of the end of last year, at the rate of MVR 193.23.

The five parties eligible for state funding this year are; ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Jumhoory Party (JP), Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), and Adhaalath Party (AP).

• PNC: 13.3 million
• MDP: 8.4 million
• JP: 2.6 million
• MDA: 1.7 million
• AP: 1.7 million

EC’s records show the five parties had 144,808 members between them by the end of last year. The PNC – which had just 3,000 members when it came to power in 2023 – ended 2024 with 68,968 members.

The rise in membership of the PNC came amid allegations the party used fraudulent forms to boost its membership in order to get more funding from the state.

The MDP - which said it received complaints from over 3,000 people regarding fake membership forms to the PNC in their name using old national ID card photos, and forged signatures and fingerprints – lodged a police case in January over the issue.

It also lodged a corruption case with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) after photos emerged showing senior government officials filling PNC forms in a meeting room at the Department of National Registration (DNR).

The PNC admitted to submitting several unverified membership forms to the Elections Commission. But they said it hasn’t been deliberate, and that the party lacks the capacity to verify forms.

The EC suspended the membership process to investigate the issue of fake forms, and in February, digitalize the political party membership process so that people can only apply for membership via eFaas.