EC begins law reform allowing budget allocation to political parties

The Elections Commission (EC) of Maldives has decided to reform the Political Parties Act to allow government budget allocations to all active political parties.

The commission on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss on submitting amendments to the Act. Following the meeting, EC President Fuad Thowfeek spoke to ‘Sun’ confirming the members of the commission discussed mainly on three key aspects.

The major issue of discussion, according to Fuad was the proposed revision to amend the fund allocation to political parties. As per current law, only the parties with over 10,000 registered members will be subject to state’s budget disbursements.

Fuad said the proposed changes to the law aims to remedy this by legally providing eligibility to all political parties to receive allocations. The issue is broken down into a four-pronged process, which include:

Allocation of 25 percent of the budget to parties with 3,000 members

Another 25 percent to parties with over 10,000 members

30 percent budget allocation to parties based on the number of seats they secure at the parliament

20 percent allocation to parties based on the seats they secure in local council elections

The other major issue discussed at the meeting was relaxing the mandatory requirement for parties to hold its congresses in every five years. Besides this, EC is expected to propose amendments on the party membership procedure as well.

Fuad further said the discussions on amending the Political Parties Act began nearly four years back in 2020, and confirmed meeting and discussing the issue with all active parties back then.

While EC has already drafted the amendment bill to the Act, the commission is expected to submit the draft to the Attorney General’s Office before the current week ends.