Statistics released by the Elections Commission of Maldives (EC) has revealed that the membership of the opposition coalition has fallen significantly.

On Sunday, the Elections Commission (EC) publicised the membership statistics of political parties as of 31st December 2019. The opposition coalition comprising of the former ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and People’s National Congress (PNC) had a total of 36،801 members and 4،455 members, respectively, up until 30th September 2019.

Nevertheless, PPM had a total of 36،073 members at the end of 2019, whereas PNC had a total of 4221 members. As per the numbers, PPM has lost 728 members in the past four months while PNC has lost 234 members. As such, EC stated that a total of 232 membership forms for political parties are yet to be processed.

The statistics further reveal that the main ruling party - Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), is still the largest political party in the country with a total of 54،101 members. As such, 511 additional members have joined MDP in the last four months of 2019.

Moreover, the Jumhooree Party currently has 11،072 members with 914 members joining the party in the past four months.

Additionally, as of December 31st, the Adhaalath Party has a total of 6،789 members whereas the recently formed Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) has 2851 members with 2،977 members enrolled in the Labour Party.