The Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has stated that it does not include or remove members from the registries of political parties. ECM made the statement after it was instructed to check if members of the main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) were registered with other parties.
Speaking to PSM News, Vice President Ismail Habeeb said the policies allow ECM to verify membership applications and include them in the party registry and that there are also robust policies to remove members from the registry. He highlighted that the issue of members being registered to other parties is not the fault of the electoral body, which only registers members after their representative party submits the membership form with a copy of their identification (ID) card and other documents.
Furthermore, Vice President Habeeb noted that the verification process has been strengthened to require membership forms to be submitted with information on the individual’s mother and a fingerprint of a witness. He added that parties are also required to submit a photo of the individual that is different from the photo on the ID card and that ECM also sends a phone message to the individual to notify them of the process. He, therefore, noted that ECM does not alter the party’s registry and that the electoral body recognises the registered members from the names included in the registry compiled and maintained by the parties.
MDP is making preparations to hold the primary election, and some members have voiced complaints over the party registry, accusing supporters of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of removing supporters of Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed from the registry. The complaints were made after the number of registered members was reduced from 92,000 to 54,000, after the MDP National Council decided to accept the registry kept by ECM instead of the one maintained by the party. The MP leadership stated that the decision was made to remove members who were registered with other parties. The removed 39,911 members were given three months to verify their registration.