Male’ City Council has decided to lease lands in Male’ to political parties that have over 20,000 members to hold political activities.

Member of Male’ City Council Ibrahim Sujau told Sun Online today that the Political Party Act obligates the council to provide land to political parties with over 20,000 members to hold political activities.

“…The law states that we must do that. Every day that passes without doing that shows our negligence,” he said.

He said that discussions in this regard will be held with the Elections Commission on Wednesday, and that efforts to lease lands to political parties will commence next week.

Sujau said that land will be leased in accordance with the law, and that decisions regarding the size of the land and the areas from which land will be leased to various parties will be made after discussions with the Elections Commission.

Article 36 (a) of the Political Party Act states that Male’ City Council must provide office premises and 1,000 sq ft lands in Male’ to political parties with over 20,000 members. Article 36 (b) states that the parties must pay rent for the lands, and that the lands can be revoked in the event that the party membership falls below 20,000.

The political party registry of the Elections Commission shows that the parties that currently have over 20,000 members are Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).