The memberships of the Adhaalath Party (AP) and the Maldives National Party (MNP) have dropped below 10,000.
As per the Political Parties Act, state funds are released to parties that have a membership of over 10,000. As such, the Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) decided to distribute USD2.39 million among six eligible political parties, including AP, which will receive USD156,000, and MNP, which will receive USD157,000.
The eligible parties were chosen based on whether they had 10,000 members prior to the approval of the state budget for 2023. AP and MNP had over 10,000 registered members at the time, but the latest statistics of ECM show that AP has 9,765 members and MNP has 9,937 members.
AP has chosen to work with the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) for the presidential election, while MNP has decided to contest the election separately.