Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has started publishing the list of individuals applying to register as members of political parties.
ECM stated it decided to publish the list of applicants in order to verify the validity of the applications before their names are included in the members’ registry of a party. The latest announcement by ECM includes names of individuals who have recently applied to become members of a party, along with the last three digits of their national identification numbers. ECM added a text message has also been sent to the contact numbers provided in the application forms.
The list published by ECM includes the names of 373 individuals registering at three parties. As such, the list includes 23 individuals registering at Jumhooree Party (JP), 105 individuals registering at Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) and 245 individuals registering at Maldives National Party (MNP).
ECM has been stepping up efforts to confirm the validity of party membership forms, due to the increasing number of complaints of individuals being registered as members of political parties without their knowledge.