Elections Commission (EC) decided on Wednesday they will start imposing fines to battle the issue of fraudulent forms submitted to be registered under political parties.
The commission said that the political parties found submitting invalid forms to register members will be fined MVR 10,000 for each form. They said the party registrar will also be fined.
Vice President of EC Ismail Habeeb said via Twitter that every invalid form submitted by a political party from April 1 onwards will get the party fined by MVR 10,000. The registrar of the party will be fined MVR 5,000 the first time, and MVR 10,000 the second time, he said.
Habeeb said if no significant change comes from this within six months, further action will be taken as well. This includes fining the witnesses that sign on the party membership form as well. They will be fined MVR 5,000.
"Additionally, we will start publicizing party members from the first of August onwards," he had said in Dhivehi.
This decision was made to combat the issue of fraudulent entries to political parties.
EC also noted that people appointed to high ranking roles within the political parties have been registered to other parties. While EC said they were not at fault here, political parties are raising their issues with the parties as well.
The commission is currently publishing the name of the person who signed the application form. A message is also sent to the applicants. The move was also taken by the EC after it was accused of tampering with the forms of those entering political parties and transferring them to other parties.
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