No forgeries, unpopular leaders resort to such options: Abdul Raheem

The Chairperson of ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), Abdul Raheem Abdulla said that the party do not need to resort to forgery and bribery to increase its party headcount.

Abdul Raheem, who is also the incumbent parliament Speaker further said such tactics are only employed by unpopular leaders to stay in relevance.

The Speaker’s remarks have come hot in the heels of the opposition’s allegations that the ruling party was bribing the public to increase its membership capacity. The opposition claims that PNC was forging signatures and exploiting personal information of people stored on records of public offices, to fill the party’s membership documents.

At Sunday evening’s ceremony held to handover the membership forms to the Elections Commission, Abdul Raheem responded to the allegations.

“The leaders of political parties, that the public no longer acknowledges, will resort to such tactics. But the leaders loved, adored, and respected by the public will never have to stoop to such levels,” Abdul Raheem retorted.

While highlighting that the ruling party has been successfully filling and handing over ‘hundreds of membership forms ‘every night’, Abdul Raheem assures these forms have never been filled through coercion.

In response to allegations that the ruling party was recruiting members from government offices and state-owned enterprises (SOEs), Abdul Raheem said that the top public official roles – including ministers and managing directors – are appointed by the government, and are all, members of the ruling party. He said that it was the responsibility of the ruling party to strengthen and expand its foothold.

At the time President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu assumed office, the ruling party had a membership count of just 3,022. However, according to the Speaker, PNC is currently the largest political party in the Maldives.

While noting the arduous task of enrolling members to the party, PNC parliamentary group leader and Inguraidhoo MP Ibrahim Falah said on Sunday, that the party’s membership has reached close to 65,000.

The party announced its objective of reaching 75,000 total members by November end.

In response to the ruling party’s ambitious efforts, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) released a statement on Sunday, claiming that PNC was abusing state facilities and resources for the party’s own cause.

MDP urged the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to step in and investigate the matter to take action against culpable parties.

According to information from the Elections Commission (EC), the ruling party’s total membership as of September 18^th this year stood at a total of 28,983; making it the third largest political party in the Maldives.

As of right now, MDP still retains its position as the largest political party with a total membership count of 50,851.