Only four political parties meet the eligibility criteria to receive funds from the state budget passed for the upcoming year. According to information released by the Elections Commission, as of November 25th – the date the budget was approved – the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Jumhooree Party (JP), Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), and People’s National Congress (PNC) were the only parties that had attained the requisite 10,000 members.
While five political parties received funding from this year’s budget, the Adhaalath Party will be excluded from the list of recipients next year due to its failure to meet the legally mandated membership count. This year, the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) received the largest share of funds, followed by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). Although only three parties had reached 10,000 members by the end of June, this number increased to four by the time the budget was passed.
As stipulated by the Political Parties Act, 0.01 percent of the annual state budget is disbursed to parties that have a membership of 10,000 or more. Currently, there are nine registered political parties in the Maldives, and it is noteworthy that the majority of these parties do not meet the 10,000-member threshold. Furthermore, the Maldives Labour and Social Democratic Party has not even met the legally required minimum of 3,000 members.
