IDP to revoke membership of over 5,000

The Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) has asked the Elections Commission (EC) to remove 5,044 people who signed for the party last year from its official registry.

Speaking to Minivan News yesterday, Umar Naseer, leader of the party, said the party received over a 100 complaints from people claiming they did not sign for the party.

“So the committee decided to remove the whole batch,” he said. “This is because the same team collected the signatures from all over the country in 2008.”

He added the team could not provide adequate explanations to the questions raised by the committee.

Umar said he estimated the removal of the new members would leave just over 1,000 members in the party.

Mohamed Hassan Manik, vice-president of the party, told Minivan News yesterday that Umar acted unilaterally and his behaviour was “unacceptable”.

“He did it on his own using staff from his company,” he said. “The party’s national council has to approve or have a say in the matter according to the party’s regulations.”

The EC does not have to process the request since it was done in violation of the party’s rules, he said.

But, Umar denied the council had to be informed. “There’s a management committee formed to oversee matters of party members. It does not have to inform the council,” he said.

Umar said the decision was made after the party received a letter from the EC asking for verification of its membership to allocate funds for next year’s budget.

“So we felt the time had come to make a decision,” he said.

In August, a resolution to dissolve the party proposed by Umar was rejected by six out of nine council members.

Umar said yesterday that plans to dissolve the party are still ongoing and he will propose it again at the party’s next congress.

He added the party’s regulations stipulated that a congress must be held every year.

Following the resolution, Umar has been active with the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party and told Minivan News at the time that he made the decision after the party failed to win a seat in the parliamentary election.

“The present party system in the Maldives is set now,” he said. “There are two major parties and there’s no future for smaller parties such as ourselves, so there’s no point in keeping a party for the sake of it and using public funds.”
Hassan Manik told Minivan News that six members out of the national council’s 11 signed a letter calling for Umar’s resignation.

Manik said yesterday that the council was still seeking his resignation.

In late August, Umar changed the locks of the party’s office, leading the council members to call him a “dictator”.

But, Umar told Minivan News he decided to close the office because he did not want to use public funds to run the party any longer. “We spend more than Rf12,000 (US$900) on electricity, Rf4,000 (US$300) on rent and Rf2,000 (US$160) on cellphone bills,” he said.

Manik said the IDP president had indicated he would join DRP. “Umar Naseer’s fear is that without him, IDP will attach itself to MDP and attack him,” he said.

The party had no plans of joining the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party, he said, and would instead focus on holding the government accountable.