Elections Commission (EC) chief Ahmed Shareef has said that they have approved all four eligible political parties to receive state funds.

Shareef said this in response to media reports citing a finance ministry official saying that it had provided funds to three parties and withheld Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)’s funds as per EC’s request.

In a tweet on Sunday, Shareef said that it had approved PPM to receive this year’s funds and did not request any party’s money to be withheld.

The finance ministry distributed this year’s funds on Sunday, giving over MVR 12 million to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), and over MVR 2 million to Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) and Jumhooree Party (JP).

MVR 26.2 million from the state budget was allocated for political parties and PPM has not received its MVR 9 million.