MNP to submit bill to halt govt. spending on political parties

Maldives National Party (MNP) has announced it intends to submit legislature to halt spending on political parties from the state budget. 

MNP’s deputy leader, Thimarafushi MP Abdulla Riyaz told Sun MNP planned on submitting the bill to the Parliament soon. 

He described annual government spending on political parties as a huge waste. 

“The standard of health care in this country is poor. I believe it would be better to focus spending on that area. State spending on political parties is a huge waste,” he said. 

Riyaz said that political parties should acquire funding on its own. 

The law dictates that political parties with membership of 10,000 and above are entitled to funding by the state. 

The highest amount of money this year went to the main governing party, MDP, with MVR 15.02 million. PPM received MVR 9.4 million, while JP received MVR 5.5 million.