Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has decided to distribute USD 1.8 million allocated in the State Budget for political parties among the parties which fulfill the criteria to receive funds from the state.
As per the Political Parties Act, state funds are released to parties which have a membership of over 10,000. The only parties which have more than 10,000 members are Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Jumhooree Party (JP). ECM revealed the USD 1.8 million allocated in the State Budget for political parties will be distributed among these three parties.
The Political Parties Act states the funds distributed among political parties must be between 0.2% and 1% of the full State Budget passed for the year.