The Maldives Labour and Social Democratic Party (MLSDP) has been reinstated and included once again in the register of political parties, following a Civil Court ruling that determined the party’s earlier dissolution was unlawful.

The decision to dissolve the MLSDP was made by the Elections Commission (EC) in June 2022, citing the party's failure to meet the statutory requirement of 3,000 members as mandated by the Political Parties Act. However, the party challenged this decision in the Civil Court, which ruled last month that the dissolution was contrary to the law.

Consequently, the Elections Commission issued an announcement last Thursday stating that, in compliance with the Civil Court's judgment, the Maldives Labour and Social Democratic Party has been restored and re-entered into the political parties register.

The Civil Court judgment stated that when the EC issued the MLSDP a three-month notice for not meeting the 3,000-member threshold, the party had over 2,700 members. The judgment further noted that the party subsequently recruited over 300 additional members and submitted their forms to the EC, which the Commission itself acknowledged as valid.

According to the ruling, although the Elections Commission claimed that the party was required to recruit additional members to compensate for any members who left during the notice period, the Court found that the party was only required to meet the original membership deficit identified at the time the notice was issued. Since the MLSDP had met the membership requirement according to this principle, the Court ruled that the EC’s decision to dissolve the party was unlawful.

However, the court ruling did not explicitly state whether the MLSDP should continue to exist or not.