Political parties are now required to use the new membership registration form introduced by the Election Commission of the Maldives (ECM).
The party membership registration form was changed to tackle the issue of parties registering members without their knowledge. ECM changed the membership form into three separate forms, including the Application for Membership of the Newly Formed Party, the Membership Application Form, and the Complaint Form for the registration of political parties.
ECM stated the new form will significantly reduce incidents of party members being unknowingly registered to other parties, or non-members being registered to a party. The new form would require a fingerprint from a witness, a photo of the applicant, and information on the applicant's mother.
Secretary General of ECM Hassan Zakariyya said the Application for Membership of the Newly Formed Party was made after discussions with political parties. He said that the old membership registration forms submitted to parties prior to November 15 will be accepted and they should be submitted to the electoral body by November 30.
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. As part of the efforts, the electoral body began publishing the list of applicants in order to verify the validity of the applications before their names are included in the registry of a party.