Adeeb's MTD dissolved for not reaching 3K members

Former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor's Maldives Thirdway Democrats (MTD) was dissolved by the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday after it failed to meet the required number of 3,000 members.

The EC decided to dissolve MTD under the Political Parties Act. That is, under the provision that gives the commission the power to dissolve a party if it does not reach 3,000 members after giving it three months to add members to reach that number.

According to the EC register, the MTD had 2,272 members as of June last year.

The EC has called on the public to submit any debts related to the MTD by August 31.

The commission had previously dissolved the Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) founded by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom due to insufficient members.

There are currently eight political parties on the EC register besides the MTD. The largest number of members belong to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s People's National Congress (PNC) which now has 68,665 members after being a very small party before Muizzu came to power. The EC register also shows that until very recently, the largest party, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) now has 43,765 members.

The PNC has been accused of fraud and using state resources to increase its membership in a short period of time.

MTD was founded on December 27, 2018. Adeeb was the first to sign up for the party after the EC gave permission to form it. Adeeb was sentenced to 20 years in jail in the MMPRC scam, the biggest scam in the history of Maldives.

The scam was committed during the administration of former President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayoom. Adeeb and former MMPRC Managing Director Abdullah Ziyath were transferred to their homes in house arrest while serving their jail sentences during President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s regime, where Solih also pardoned them both.