Maldives Reform Movement (MRM), Maldives Third-Way Democrats (MTD), Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and Maldives Labour and Social Democratic Party (MLSDP) have acquired enough signatures to fulfill the minimum membership of 3,000 as required under the Political Parties Act.
Elections Commission Maldives (ECM) had sent notices to the four parties for falling short of the minimum membership required by law. The four parties were required to acquire enough signatures to fulfill minimum membership by June 14.
ECM stated all four parties have submitted the membership forms to achieve the minimum membership. However, only MRM’s forms have been verified so far, and therefore it is the only party out of the four to be included in the Political Parties Registry by June 14. Other parties will be added to the registry once the forms are verified.
During the period given to fulfill the minimum membership requirement, DRP acquired 788 new members to bring its total to 3,057. MTD submitted 962 new forms to bring its membership to 3,419, while MLSDP submitted 376 forms to bring its total membership to 3,067.
As per the Political Parties Act, all parties must have a minimum membership of 3,000 to get registered. However, only parties with a membership of above 10,000 are eligible for funds under the state budget.