Government to slash political party allowances

The government has decided that it wishes to lower the allowances given out to political parties every year by the state as it is required to do by law, a staff at the Finance Ministry has revealed.

Minister Ahmed Munavvar has sent a letter to Attorney General Mohamed Anil where he conveys the government’s wish to lower the allowance to the least possible amount that can be given out by the state.

The Political Parties Act, passed in 2013, states that the state shall provide political parties with an allowance of an amount ‘between 0.1 to 0.2’ percent of the state’s annual budget in proportion to the party’s member count.

Minister Munnavar has asked that the ‘0.1’ percent cap on the least possible amount be lowered to ‘0.05’ percent. He has also asked that the amount given out in total to all parties eligible for the allowance not exceed the sum of MVR 10 million.

In 2016, the Elections Commission gave out about 23 million in total. The ruling party received 10 million, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party received seven million, the Jumhooree Party received just short of three million and the government-aligned Maldives Development Allowance received 1.8 million.

Parties that have more than 10, 000 members are eligible to the allowance, and the Political Parties Act requires the state, and the Elections Commission, to give it all out in the first quarter of the year.

However, the Elections Commission has failed to do this in the last two years, having this year waited until May to forward the request to the Finance Ministry, which would allocate amounts to individual parties based on membership.