The Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has revealed that all the members-elect for the 19th tenure of Parliament have provided their financial statements.
While 347 out of the 386 candidates had provided their financial statements by the time the deadline approached, ECM revealed that among them are all the candidates who had won the Parliamentary Elections held on 6 April.
The commission’s Vice President Amjad Mustafa revealed that 39 candidates had failed to submit their financial statements by 12am on Sunday.
As such, 31 out of the 39 are candidates who had contested independently, one candidate who had contested through government coalition partner Adhaalath Party, two candidates from Maldives Third-way Democrats, two candidates from Labour Party, one candidate from People’s National Congress (PNC) and two candidates from opposition Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) had not submitted their financial statements.
All candidates who had contested through government coalition partner Jumhooree Party (JP), main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) have completed the process, revealed ECM.
According to the General Elections Act, “a report relating to the financial matters of the election of the candidate should be prepared and submitted to the Elections Commission within 30 days from the date of election.”
The report in question 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 General Elections Act states that candidates who go against the act faces prison sentences between six months to two years or a fine ranging between MVR 6,000 and MVR 24,000.
On Thursday, ECM revealed that candidates who contested for the 19th tenure of Parliament will face a two-year prison conviction if they do not submit their financial statement within the given deadline.
