The Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has decided to publicise party membership forms for a short period.
ECM has decided to publicise information on the membership forms submitted by political parties and individuals for a week. The electoral body made the decision to solve the issue of the submission of numerous fake or unverifiable party membership forms.
ECM announced the decision after holding discussions with political parties and will be approving and implementing the policy after its next meeting. Currently, there is no mechanism to stop the submission of fake or unverifiable forms, and parties are responsible for verifying the signature and fingerprints before submitting the forms. The biggest issue faced by ECM is the absence of a fingerprint database. However, the government is planning to formulate a database with fingerprints of citizens above the age of 18.
Furthermore, individuals who wish to resign from a party are required to submit the resignation form to ECM if the party fails to dismiss the individual. ECM is allowed to dismiss party members who wish to resign upon employment at a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Maldives Police Service (MPS), or Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), or upon appointment to a government position.