DRP membership falls below 20,000

The number of members registered to the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has dropped below 20,000 members.

Political party membership statistics published by the Elections Commission last Sunday shows that the number of members in DRP has dropped to 19,308 members by September, in contrast to 20,529 members recorded in March this year.

The two parties with more than 20,000 members are currently the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) led by former president Mohamed Nasheed, with 43,277 members and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) led by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, with 24,311 members.

By March 2013, MDP and PPM had 43,841 members and 22,678 members respectively, showing that MDP lost 564 members, and the PPM gained 1633 members during the six-month period.

Jumhoory Party (JP), led by business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim, currently sits in fourth place with 14,330 members, with religiously conservative Adhaalath Party in fifth with 10,408 members.

The Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) holds a membership of 7,537 members, with incumbent President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik’s Gaumee Ithihad Party (GIP) has 5,864 members, as of September 2013.

MDP candidate Mohamed Nasheed led the first round of the September 7th presidential polls with 95,224 votes, with the PPM and MDA coalition candidate Abdulla Yameen in second place with 53,099 votes. Jumhoory Party and Adhlaath Party’s “Jumhoory Coalition” candidate Gasim Ibrahim ended up in their place with 50,422 votes, and GIP and DRP coalition candidate Dr Waheed garnered 10,750 votes.

MDP candidate former president Mohamed Nasheed is set to compete PPM candidate Abdulla Yameen for the presidential runoff, scheduled for the 28th of September.