Abdul Raheem Abdulla, the President of People’s National Congress (PNC), has said that the parliamentary candidates of the opposition coalition will submit their financial statements.

At a press conference on Thursday night, Abdul Raheem said PNC and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) are preparing the financial statements and that they will submit the statements once they receive all the information from the candidates.

He said that some of their candidates have already sent in their statements and assured that all of the statements will be given before the deadline on Saturday.

The Elections (General) Act states that a report relating to the financial matters of the election of the candidate should be submitted to the Elections Commission within 30 days from the date of election.

The report must include details of all expenses incurred by the candidate in regards to the election, details of the manner in which contributions were acquired for said expenses, list of persons and the amount contributed to them as well as a bank account statement which shows all the transactions carried out from the elections account.

The only political parties to publicize their candidates’ financial statements before the parliamentary election was main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and non aligned Labour Party.

Candidates who fail to submit their financial statements within the deadline face prison sentences between six months to two years or a fine ranging between MVR 6,000 and MVR 24,000.