Elections Commission President expresses concern about the future of small parties

Fuad Taufeeq, President of the Elections Commission of the Maldives has expressed concern over the future of “small political parties” in the Maldives, after the newly passed bill on political parties stipulated a mandatory requirement to hold a membership of 10,000 if a party is to continue.

The new bill is yet to be assented to by the President, and if it is assented, and becomes effective, 12 of the 16 political parties in the Maldives would face the possibility of automatic dissolution. The bill gives parties only three months from the date of assent to increase their membership to 10,000, and any that fails to meet the number would be automatically dissolved.

Fuad Taufeeq said that he was “concerned about what will happen to small political parties, with the new bill”.

Speaking to Sun Online today, Fuad said that small parties would face real challenges in recruiting additional members within three months to meet the 10,000 minimum limit, and that small parties have been complaining about this.

“In general, the new bill is good, and I expect it would improve the situation. However, if a party is required to maintain a membership of 10,000, then I personally believe that the 12 parties, out of a total of 16, which currently do not have that number of members would find it really difficult to meet the requirement. I personally feel that this is going to be a problem, and some parties have themselves called me and expressed their concern over the matter. Meeting the new requirement would indeed be a big challenge for them”, said Fuad.

As of now, a party needs to maintain a membership total of 3000 in order to be legally capable of continuation as a party. Fuad said that the Elections Commission would prefer this position not to have changed with the new bill. He said that the “situation in the Maldives means that this criteria must not be changed”.

“When the bill was being considered at committee stage in the Majlis, we gave them our opinion saying that it should be 3000. Still, we would definitely follow the new law if it becomes effective”, said Fuad.

The new bill, which was passed last week after a majority of 46 MPs voted for it stipulates that a political party needs 10,000 members to be formed, and needs to maintain a membership total of the same to continue as a political party. If a party’s membership falls below this number, the Elections Commission is required to inform the party of that fact, and give it a period of three months to increase membership to meet the criterion. If it is not done in three months, the party would be dissolved.

According to statistics, the only parties in the Maldives with membership exceeding the minimum membership line are the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the Divehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), and the Jumhoory Party (JP).