Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has decided to issue USD650 fines to political parties for each unverifiable party membership application they submit. ECM made the decision to stop the issue of parties registering members without their knowledge.
Vice President of ECM Ismail Labeeb said that parties will be penalised with a USD650 fine for each unverifiable membership application they submit and that the party’s registrar will be fined USD320 for the first offence. The electoral body’s decision comes after it was revealed that Parliamentarian Hussain Ziyad, who represents the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), was unknowingly registered as a member of the Maldives National Party (MNP).
ECM has also begun publishing the list of individuals registering at political parties as part of efforts to strengthen the verification process of party membership forms submitted to the commission. ECM has been stepping up efforts to confirm the validity of party membership forms, due to the increasing number of complaints of individuals being registered as members of political parties without their knowledge.