Civil Court of the Maldives has upheld its order to temporarily halt the process of dissolving the Maldives Reform Movement (MRM).
ECM decided to dissolve MRM after the party failed to fulfill the membership requirement by the given three-month deadline, even after the electoral body issued a second notice. A political party can only get registered if it has a minimum of 3,000 members but MRM had 2,981 members as of February 21.
The Civil Court ordered ECM to halt the process of dissolving MRM for 30 days after the party stated that it would file a case to appeal the decision within that period. ECM moved to review the order on the grounds that it was issued in absence of the electoral body and relied solely on documents provided by MRM. However, the Civil Court stated that the electoral body did not provide sufficient evidence to prove that MRM had withheld any important documents.
Former President and founder of MRM Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and President of MRM Ahmed Faris Maumoon have denounced the decision to dissolve MRM. The party was formed in November 2019.