Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has decided to conduct an audit on the finances of political parties receiving funds from the state budget.
Vice President of ECM Ismail Habeeb said the audit aims to ensure that parties are maintaining their finances in accordance to the Political Parties Act. Habeeb said an internal audit team of ECM will be visiting the offices of the four parties that are eligible to receive state funds.
The Political Parties Act states that 0.01% of the state budget should be distributed to registered political parties with 10,000 or more members. The four eligible parties are the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), as well as government coalition partners Jumhooree Party (JP) and Adhaalath Party (AP).
The Political Parties Act grants ECM the authority to monitor the finances of parties receiving state funds. ECM also holds the authority to take action against parties that do not maintain records of its finances or fail to submit its financial report to ECM.