Four political parties eligible for state funding next year

Only four political parties are eligible for state funding next year, according to the Elections Commission (EC).

According to the Political Parties Act, the state is required to distribute an amount equivalent to 0.1 percent of the projected revenue in the annual state budget among parties that have 10,000 members or more.

The Parliament passed a budget of MVR 64.2 billion for next year on November 25.

In a post on X on Saturday morning, the EC said that four political parties met the 10,000-membership requirement at the time of the passage of the budget.

They are:

• People’s National Congress (PNC)
• Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)
• Maldives Development Alliance (MDA)
• Jumhoory Party (JP)

According to information available from EC, the ruling PNC ranks the biggest political party in the Maldives with 68,665 members, followed by the main opposition MDP with 43,765 members.

Five political parties had received MVR 27.9 million in state funding this year.

The announcement by EC comes as political parties gear up for the Local Council Elections next year.