The Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has decided to distribute USD2.39 million among six political parties eligible to receive state funds under the Political Parties Act.
As per the Political Parties Act, state funds are released to parties that have a membership of over 10,000. The only parties which have more than 10,000 members are the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Jumhooree Party (JP), Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), Maldives National Party (MNP) and Adaalath Party (AP). ECM, therefore, revealed the USD2.39 million allocated in the state budget for political parties will be distributed among these six parties.
The electoral body said the funds allocated from the state budget will be given to the political parties, once the audit report and annual report of the previous year have been submitted. According to the Political Parties Act, 0.01% of the state budget will be allocated to political parties with 10,000 members at the time the budget was passed.
As of December 31, 2022, MDP has 57,529 members, PPM has 38,632 members, JP has 22,993 members, MDA has 10,488 members, MNP has 9,937 members and AP has 9,765. Therefore, MDP receives USD921,000, PPM receives USD618,000, JP receives USD368,000, MDA receives USD168,000, MNP receives USD157,000 and AP receives USD156,000.
The Maldives consists of 11 registered political parties with most parties inactive.