The Democrats has filed a complaint with Maldives Police Service after its members list was leaked before it was published officially on the Elections Commission (EC) website.
Following this leak, former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Vice President Mohamed Shifaz and Hulhudhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb raised their concerns.
The Democrats is a newly announced political party formed by key figures aligned with Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed. The party is the manifestation of Nasheed's "Fikurrege Dhirun" (revival of an ideology) movement.
Speaking about the incident, Shifaz said that EC must adhere to a standard protocol when publishing the members list of political parties and that the list should be exclusively published on the EC's website. However, Shifaz said that prior to the list being published on the EC website, some of the general members of the new party already had the full list in their possession.
He highlighted the serious nature of the issue and condemned the act urging law enforcement authorities to probe the matter.
"We have requested the Elections Commission to probe how this leak has occurred, and we have also requested the Maldives Police Service to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter," stated Shifaz.
Shifaz further alleged that some senior and general government employees currently have the list in their possession. “The fact that the leaked list includes details that we did not include when we submitted [the members registration list to EC] suggests that the information was extracted through EC,” he said.
The Democrats have alleged that supporters of the government have been calling members of the new party in an attempt to intimidate them.
The Democrats submitted 3,500 membership forms on Wednesday, May 31, exceeding the requirement of 3,000 members set by the Elections Commission (EC) to register a political party.
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