Civil Court revoked the EC's letter informing the party of it being dissolved, as well as all decisions made on the matter afterwards.
The Civil Court has ruled that the Elections Commission (EC)'s decision to dissolve Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) is against the law.
MRM is a party founded by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in November 2019. The party's President is his son, Ahmed Faris Maumoon.
In May 2023, EC stated that MRM did not have 3000 registered members, and that the party had failed to gather the minimum required number of members as per the law within the provided timeframe, and hence decided to dissolve the party.
Civil Court Judge Mohamed Easa Fulhu ruled yesterday that the notice given by EC regarding the dissolvement of the party was given in contravention of the Political Parties Act.
"As per that article, Elections Commission not having fulfilled its responsibilities in the past by issuing notices once every six months to confirm number of members, any loss faced through that is not something that MRM is legally bound to carry," the ruling said.
In the notice sent to MRM by EC in February asking them to raise membership to 3000, the commission quoted their membership at the time as being at 2981. The party conducted efforts to raise membership based on this number.
While the notice did not mention the existence of some forms that had not been processed yet at the time, the ruling further noted that the list of members had been altered during the notice period.
It further said that unacceptable delays had been observed in the processing of some forms. While things remain thus, the EC's decision contravenes Article 43 of the Constitution, the ruling reads.
Based on this, the Civil Court revoked the EC's letter informing the party of it being dissolved, as well as all decisions made on the matter afterwards.
The Civil Court also ordered EC to pay MVR 50,000 to MRM as compensation within a period of 7 days.
Due to the dissolving of the party last year, MRM's leader Ahmed Faris Maumoon had contested as an independent candidate in the last presidential election.
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