While 39 of the 386 candidates that competed in the 2019 parliamentary elections failed to submit financial statements to the Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM), it has decided to seek charges against them.
The Commission’s vice president, Amjad Musthafa stated that they will be forwarding these cases to the Prosecutor General (PG) Office after reviewing all submitted statements, which they are currently doing.
ECM on Sunday announced that 347 candidates had provided financial records by the given deadline; this includes all candidates elected for the 19th parliament.
The 39 candidates that failed to provide the statements include; 31 independent candidates, two each from Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Maldives Labour and Social Democratic Party and Maldives Third-Way Democrats, as well as one each from People’s National Congress (PNC) and Adhaalath Party.
While candidates are not required to provide financial records prior to the election, a recent amendment to Article 73 (a) of the General Elections Act states that “a report relating to the financial matters of the election of the candidates should be prepared and submitted to the Elections Commission within 21 days from the date of election.” The 2019 parliamentary election was held on April 6.
Failing to comply with the guidelines is considered as an elections-related offence, and could result in a fine between MVR 6,000 and 24,000, or a jail sentence between six months and two years.
