The Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has suggested making party membership applications public.
Speaking to PSM News, the President of ECM Fuad Thaufeeq said making membership applications public would solve the major issue of unverifiable forms. He said all political parties submit unverifiable membership applications and there is currently no mechanism to minimise the number of such applications. He said the issue arises from individuals using signatures and fingerprints of others when filling the forms and that ECM has repeatedly urged parties to check the applications before submitting them to the electoral body.
Furthermore, Fuad noted solutions such as publicising the membership applications on the ECM website or allowing individuals to re-check their applications. He said the forms would be publicised with certain information withheld, such as the address and a part of the national identity card number. He added that members of ECM and political parties are currently discussing implementing a solution.
Additionally, Fuad said a major challenge is the lack of a fingerprint database and that the government is planning to build a database consisting of fingerprints of all citizens over 18 years of age. He expressed hope that submission of membership applications with false or incorrect information can be stopped with the assistance of political parties, as the parties have the responsibility in verifying the forms.
The Political Parties Act states that registered political parties are required to submit membership or resignation forms to ECM for verification.