Amendment proposes MVR 100,000 fine for political parties violating law

A government-backed bill to amend the Political Parties Act has been submitted to the Parliament which will allow parties to be fined by MVR 100,000 for violations of the legislature.

The bill to amend Article 49 of the Political Parties Act was submitted to the Parliament with the sponsorship of ruling PNC’s Dhidhdhoo MP Abdul Latheef Mohamed.

As per the government, the purpose of the bill is to amend the current policy under the Act on issuance of funds to political parties from the state budget and introduce separate fines for violations of the Act to reduce the number of violations and encourage responsibility among political parties.

In this regard, the bill proposes a fine between MVR 30,000 and MVR 75,000 for individuals violating the Political Parties Act and a fine of MVR 100,000 for the party the individual is a member of.

Currently, Article 49 of the Act allows a fine between MVR 5,000 and MVR 10,000 again for individuals who have been found to have submitted the name of an individual for membership of a party in violation of the law and a fine between MVR 30,000 and MVR 75,000 for individuals who have found to have violation any other articles of the law.

The bill also proposed to revoke Article 10 of the Political Parties Act which pertains to primaries of parties.

The bill also proposes changes to how parties are allocated funding from the state budget. In this regard, the bill states funds allocated for political parties in the state budget should be 0.1 to 0.2 percent of the revenue project in the annual budget.

At present, the law mandates the government to disburse funds accounting for 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent of the total annual budget to political parties.

There are 11 political parties on the register of the Elections Commission as of present; MDP, PNC, PPM, Adhaalath Party, Jumhoory Party, MDA, MTD, MNP, MRM, The Democrats and PNF.