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Wednesday 16 Oct 2024
LOCAL EDITION
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LOCAL EDITION
Banners hang on streets in Male' City during the parliamentary elections campaign in 2019. (File Photo/Sun/Fayaz Moosa)
Big or small, do political parties need to be given even a cent of taxpayers’ money?
There are few among the general public who would agree. But amid public discourse over the merits of giving political parties any state funding at all, the Elections Commission (EC) decided there needs to be a change in the way the funds are allocated to parties. The commission decided that funds must be allocated to smaller parties as well.
As per the Political Parties Act, the state needs to set aside a portion of its annual budget to provide funding to political parties that have more than 10,000 members. The higher the membership, the higher the funding.
But the EC now says that a portion of the budget allocation for political parties must also go to smaller parties. 25 percent of the total budget allocation would go to parties with 3,000 to 9,999 members, and another 25 percent to parties with over 10,000 members. And of the remaining 50 percent, 30 percent would be distributed based on performance at parliamentary elections, and 20 percent based on performance at local council elections.
EC’s chairperson Fuad Thaufeeq said that it will not be based on the number of seats that parties win, but the number of votes.
“Even if they do not win a seat, a party may get a large amount of funds once the votes in different constituencies are tallied. Perhaps more than parties that win seats,” he said.
These legal amendments haven’t been passed. They were merely proposed by the EC. They will need to be passed by the Parliament and ratified in order to take effect.
Wastage of scarce funds
Based on the Political Parties Act, between 0.1 and 0.2 percent of the annual state budget must go to political parties. This year, MVR 44 million was distributed among parties. That is:
Maldives is grappling with a major economic crisis, with the government now left with little to no choice but to halt subsidies on utilities in order to tighten its belt. The country’s external debt has skyrocketed. Isn’t this a wastage of millions of Rufiyaa?
“At a time when the government’s spending has increased exponentially, it is crucial to drop funding to political parties in order to cut costs,” said Attorney General Ahmed Usham in 2022, back when he served as the parliamentary representative for Vilimale’.
The situation is worse now. Two top credit rating agencies, Fitch and Moody’s, have both downgraded Maldives’ credit rating, citing debt default risks.
The country is billions of dollars in debt. It is on the brink of bankruptcy. Such high wastage in such a dire situation is just not right.
It is hard to believe that the Attorney General’s Office, which Usham now heads, would submit these revisions to the Parliament. But what he has done in the last 10 months to stop this wastage that he so publicly opposed in the past - this is something that he needs to answer for.
Usham, who is accompanying President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu on a state visit to India seeking the country’s help to deal with the crisis should know the urgent need for fiscal consolidation better than most. He, as the country’s Attorney General, has the power to roll out the reforms he once advocated for.
His current views on the subject are unclear.
Is this something practiced in Maldives alone? Why?
The state began providing funding to parties with the introduction of the multi-party system. It could be seen as a decision designed to promote politics, and empower political parties to push for reforms.
This is not something practiced in the Maldives alone. Several other countries practice this, under different names.
One such country is Germany, which releases funding based on votes in elections. It is done to reduce the influence of business owners on political parties and ascertain their independence.
But there’s no reason why political parties in the Maldives should receive millions in funding if none of these objectives are met, and if they do not follow any law, regulation or policy. This needs to stop immediately.
They should be encouraged to do business
Political parties have been receiving funds from the state budget for far too long. And there’s nothing to show for it. They do not deserve taxpayers’ money. They need to find alternative sources of funding.
The MDP, which has always taken the initiative to try new things, recently announced such plans. The party plans on venturing into the real estate business. It is commendable. It is encouraged. Political parties must stand on their own feet. They must not depend on taxpayers’ money. It is not something they have a right to.
Political parties must find the funding they need to operate themselves. It does not matter if it’s from real estate, cement mixing, or washing motorbikes.
The state budget isn’t a birthday cake that parties need to be given a slice of.
Big or small, political parties do not deserve a cent of taxpayers’ money.
