Elections Commission (EC) of the Maldives has announced that it will be conducting an audit into how government funds received by political parties are spent.
Vice President of EC, Ismail Habeeb, tweeted that the commission will conduct an audit on political party funds as per the political party’s regulations. Political party regulations state that the government will allocate 0.1% of the annual budget to political parties with a membership of over 10,000 members.
The government allocated MVR 30.2 million as funds to political parties this year. Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) received MRV 15.02 million, while Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) received MVR 9.4 million, and Jumhooree Party (JP) received MVR 5.5 million. Adhaalath Party has received MVR 2.9 million. However, Vilimale constituency MP Ali Usham submitted a bill to parliament last Monday to stop government funding for political parties citing that it will benefit the government financially.
