The Elections Commission (EC) has fined three political parties for failure to submit audit reports on the scheduled deadline. The parties have been fined with MVR 50,000 each.

EC on X confirmed the parties were fined in accordance with Article 44(b) of Political Parties Act. The parties include;

The Democrats

Maldives National Party (MNP)

Maldives Thirdway Democrats (MTD)

EC member, Hassan Zakariyya spoke with ‘Sun’ confirming the authority did not provide a deadline for the parties to settle their fines.

“Generally, parties that are fined in this regard have to settle the fines within one year,” Hassan said.

EC is the mandated, regulatory body of political parties in the Maldives. As per law, each political party is required to submit third-party audit report to the Auditor General’s Office within 90 days after the conclusion of each fiscal year.

Political parties that fail to submit this report are fined between MVR 20,000 and MVR 50,000.