Ministry of Finance revealed that the Elections Commission (EC) submitted a request to distribute funds to Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) on Monday.
The ministry's Media Executive Mohamed Shanoon spoke to local media Mihaaru, assuring that the funds would be deposited within the week.
The ministry denies EC's claims that the request for PPM's funds was lodged along with that of the remaining three parties which qualified for payment as per the Political Parties Act.
The Finance Ministry already released allocated amounts from the 2019 State Budget to the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Jumhooree Party (JP) and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA).
EC member Ahmed Akram said that technical difficulties caused a delay in the release of funds to PPM despite the request being submitted along with those of the other parties.
However, he declared that the matter was solved and the request was resubmitted to the ministry.
A total of MVR 26.2 million was allocated from the budget for political parties with over 10,000 members. Only four parties out of the nine registered at EC fit the criteria when this year's budget was passed.
According to recent forms analysed by EC, only PPM and MDP currently have more than 10,000 members. The latter has an all-time high with over 50,000 registered members.
Funds allocated for political parties must be deposited within the first three months of the year. EC stated that the process was delayed this year due to the necessity of ensuring the legitimacy of a great number of membership forms submitted in the lead up to the 2019 parliamentary elections.
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