Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) has stated the cases of candidates who did not submit financial statements will be sent to the Prosecutor General's Office to press charges.
Speaking to PSM News, spokesperson and member of ECM Ahmed Akram revealed the cases will be filed at Prosecutor General's Office this week to press charges against the 39 candidates who failed to submit the financial statements before the deadline which ended Saturday night. 347 parliamentary candidates from the 386 candidates who contested in the parliamentary elections submitted their financial reports.
A report detailing the financial matters of the election must be prepared and submitted by each candidate within 30 days following the election, including, expenses incurred by the candidate, details of the expenses incurred during the electoral campaign, details of the manner in which contributions were procured for election expenses, details of persons and amounts contributed as election expenses and a bank account statement which shows all the transactions carried out from the account opened for the election, according to Elections General Act.
Candidates who failed to submit the statements include 31 independent candidates, 3 candidates from the opposition coalition and 1 candidate from Adhaalath Party (AP). Moreover, 4 candidates from Maldives Third-Way Democrats (MTD) and Maldives Labour and Social Democratic Party (MLSDP) did not submit financial statements.