42% of eligible voters aren’t registered to political parties

Statistics released by the Elections Commission (EC) shows 42 percent of eligible voters in Maldives aren’t registered to political parties.

283,272 people are eligible to vote in this year’s presidential election. EC’s vice chairman Ismail Habeeb said that while 162,935 of them are members of political parties, the remaining 120,337 of them aren’t registered to any political party.

The statistics show 58 percent of eligible voters are members of political parties while 42 percent aren’t.

There are currently 11 political parties operating in Maldives. Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the oldest party in Maldives, has the highest number of members, followed by the main opposition party, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

Political party membership:

• MDP: 57,660 members
• PPM: 38,704 members
• Jumhoory Party (JP): 22,607 members
• Maldives Development Alliance (MDA): 10,386 members
• Adhaalath Party: 9,786 members
• Maldives National Party (MNP): 9,838 members
• People’s National Congress (PNC): 3,159 members
• Maldives Third-Way Democrats (MTD): 3,016 members
• Maldives Reform Movement (MRM): 2,981 members
• Maldives Labor and Social Democratic Party (MLSDP): 2,556 members
• Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP): 2,242 members

The presidential election is scheduled to be held on September 9.

Multi-party democracy was established in Maldives under the new constitution enacted in 2004.