MRM once again falls short of the required 3,000 members

The Maldives Reform Movement (MRM), founded by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, has once again made it to the list of political parties that do not have more than 3,000 members.

MRM also made the list in June 2022, when the Elections Commission (EC) warned political parties that did not have the mandatory 3,000 members required by the Political Parties Act. They were told that if they did not get enough people registered within a three-month period, the party would be dissolved. The party had 2,300 members at the time.

According to the list released by EC yesterday, MRM currently has 2,981 registered members. EC said this was the number of members registered with the party as of Tuesday, February 21.

The list shows that the biggest political party in the Maldives at the moment is the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), with a total of 57,660 members. MDP is followed by the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) with 38,704 registered members, while the Jumhooree Party (JP) is the third-biggest party with 22,607 members.

In addition to MRM, Maldives Labour and Social Democratic Party and the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) also make the list of political parties with fewer registered members than the required amount.

MRM had earlier claimed that the decline in its membership was due to its members being "snatched" by other parties without notice.

Party Secretary General Abdul Aleem said that MRM's council and various committee members were registered to the Maldives National Party (MNP) without their consent. Even though he accused that this was done without their knowledge, MNP denies the claims.

Following complaints of people being duped into joining parties, the EC decided to penalise political parties for submitting unverified forms and took steps to prevent it from happening again.

The MRM is the third political party founded by Maumoon. The first party he formed was the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) but he let the party go following a disagreement within the leadership and went on to create the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM). However, later, due to a disagreement with his younger brother, former President Abdulla Yameen, he let PPM go as well.