PHOTO: ELECTION COMMISSION
The Election Commission (EC) has revealed that the request to grant the annual allocated state funds to political parties, except for the main opposition, has now been submitted at the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.
According to EC, the funds for opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) has not been requested for as the party failed to submit its’ audit report.
Member of EC Ahmed Akram said that funds will be granted to the main opposition if the report is submitted before the deadline on May 8.
According to the Political Parties Act, each party with membership exceeding 10,000 people should be granted the funds within the first three months of the year. The Act specifies that three months should be counted excluding public holidays.
The Finance Ministry is responsible for processing the payments once the EC makes the formal submission. The ministry came under fire last year as the parties were granted their funds in October.
The Act states that political parties should be paid an amount from 0.1 to 0.2 percent of the annual budget. The state budget of this year allocates a total of MVR 24.2 million for political parties.