Tag: elections commission

PPM membership tally overtakes DRP

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) has overtaken the membership of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), from which it split in 2011.

According to the latest political party membership statistics released on Tuesday by the Election Commission (EC), the PPM is now the second largest political party with 22,793 members, with 472 membership forms pending.

The DRP currently has a membership of 22,501 members.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) of former President Mohamed Nasheed remains the largest political party by a substantial margin, with 46,321 members, with 1,234 membership applications are pending with the EC.

Business tycoon and presidential hopeful MP Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhoree Party is the fourth largest political party in the country with 11,139 members.

Meanwhile, the religiously conservative Adhaalath Party’s membership stands at 5,877 members.

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s party Gaumee Ithihaadh Party (GIP)’s membership stands at just 3,217 members with 1,395 membership forms pending.

The Dhivehi Gaumee Party (DQP) membership has meanwhile fallen to 2099 members.

The recently established Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) led by tourism magnate Ahmed ‘Sun travel’ Shiyam has a membership of 3,441 with 161 new membership forms pending.

DRP concerns

Following the release of party membership statistics, the government-aligned DRP expressed alleging that the Elections Commission was being politically influenced by fellow government party, the PPM.

Speaking to local media after a meeting with the commission, DRP Spokesperson Ali Solih said it was “very clear” that the Elections Commission was working in favor of PPM while verifying membership forms.

Solih alleged the decision by the elections commission to cease the practice of fingerprinting for membership forms was to enable the PPM to rapidly increase its membership.  The decision was made by the Parliament’s Independent Institutions Oversight Committee last November.

“Even if a committee decides on it, the Elections Commission should not stop the practice immediately. They have to check the forms that were submitted with fingerprints. But what we saw was when people from a specific party come to the Elections Commission, they stopped checking for fingerprints. This is something done to please a certain political party,” he said.

He further alleged that the EC had updated the party membership statistics ahead of PPM’s presidential primary, and suggested that something was taking place behind the scenes. He also claimed the commission had been negligent in assessing the membership forms from his own party.

“When we submit 800 forms, they don’t update them. But we see membership of parties that have  not submitted any forms continuously updating. We have doubts over how the Elections Commission carries out the process,” he added.

Human error

Speaking to Minivan News, Vice President of Elections Commission Ahmed Fayaz dismissed the allegations of party bias.

“We can assure that that Elections Commission is not working in favor of a certain group of people or certain political party,” he said.

Regarding the decision to not include fingerprints in membership forms, Fayaz said it was made by the parliamentary select committee and was not based on the request of a specific political party.

“When we make a decision, there will always be people who are not content with it. I believe that is the case with the DRP. They are expressing their views and we respect that,” he said.

Fayaz acknowledged that the commission had received complaints from the DRP regarding discrepancies in its membership forms submitted, and said the matter was being addressed.

“I do not deny the fact that there could be mistakes. We are all human beings. We use our human senses to verify membership forms, so it is subject to human error. It is also important to note we are not processing a few hundred forms, but thousands of forms from different parties. So there could possibly be errors,” he said.

According to Fayaz, if the current Political Parties bill in parliament becomes law, it would solve a lot of issues that the commission is currently facing.  The bill was passed by parliament and sent for ratification, but was rejected by President Waheed claiming that it bill compromised the constitutional right of freedom of association, by requiring parties to have a minimum of 10,000 members.

The number of political parties in the country currently stands at 16. That is expected to increase in the days to come as yjr Elections Commission has granted permission for ex-servicemen and current Minister of State for Home Affairs Mohamed Fayaz to create a new political party, which the local media has identified as the ‘Maldives Industrial Alliance’.

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Elections commission disbursing politcial party funds

Political parties will receive funds disbursed by the Elections Commission (EC) this week, according to local media.

Secretary General of EC Asim Abdul Sattar told Sun Online that the Finance Ministry was facing “difficulties” because of the high number of vouchers received at the beginning of the year, which is why funds had not previously been distributed.

According to EC Member Ali Mohamed Manik, seven political parties have had funds withheld because they have not held any political activities or submitted “up-to-standard” audit reports.

The Maldives presently has 16 registered political parties, however only eight meet the requirements for actively holding political events and having at least 3,000 registered members, states local media.

Party funding:

  • Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP): MVR 3.6 million (US$233,280);
  • Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MVR 1.98 million (US$128,304);
  • Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MVR 1.9 million (US$123,120);
  • Jumhooree Party (JP) MVR 1.2 million (US$77,760);
  • Adhaalath Party (AP) MVR 794,000 (US$51,451);
  • Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) MVR 624,000 (US$40,435);
  • Gaumee Itthihad MVR 608,000 (US$39,398);
  • Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MVR 529,000 (US$34,279); and
  • Maldives National Congress (MNC) MVR 478,000 (US$ 30,974).
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Elections Commission approves 17th political party

The Minister of State for Home Affairs and former Deputy Commissioner of Police Mohamed Fayaz has been granted permission by the Elections Commission (EC) to form a new political party, reports local media.

Assuming the newly formed National Industrial Alliance (NIA) can find 3000 members, it will become the 17th political party in the Maldives.

The NIA’s platform will focus on achieving economic freedom through investments and job opportunities for citizens as well as “bringing about a ‘revolution’ to Maldivian businesses and medium-sized companies” via government assistance and “other sources,” according to Sun Online.

Fayaz stated the NIA will cooperate with the government regardless of which party is in power.

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PPM overtakes DRP to become second largest party

The pro-government Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has overtaken the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) to become the second largest party in the country in terms of membership.

According to membership figures updated by the Elections Commission (EC) on December 27, PPM has 22,802 members while DRP has 22,575 members.

PPM was formed by a breakaway faction of the DRP following an acrimonious split within the then-main opposition party and a public spat between former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and his successor as DRP Leader, MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali.

At the time of PPM’s formation in October 2011, DRP had 35,260 members.

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Elections Commission looking into MDP’s revolution calls

The Elections Commission (EC) has confirmed it is investigating calls made by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) earlier this month to try and overthrow the current government through an ‘Ingilaab’ (revolution).

Former President Mohamed Nasheed on December 11 called for a “revolution” to overthrow the administration of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, claiming it is the only way to have a government that is “by the people”.

The motion was later passed the same day by the National Council of the MDP at Kulhudhuhfushi in Haa Dhaal Atoll.

Vice President of the Elections Commission Ahmed Fayaz stated today that the commission had received a complaint concerning the MDP’s motion, and hence had begun looking into the matter.

“Our in-house legal team is working along with an external firm of lawyers who sometimes provide legal advice to our commission. The commissioners will be discussing the matter only when the legal team finishes their review,” he said.

Fayaz further added that he did not know when the commission would be able to come to a decision on the matter, saying it all depended on how fast the legal team manages to review the matter.

Fayaz said that the legal team would need to review the definition of what an ‘Ingilaab’ or revolution is, and what the constitution and accompanying laws and regulations stated on the matter before deciding whether or not action needed to be taken against MDP.

“We cannot comment on what the outcome may be before the legal review is completed. We don’t even know yet what action, if any, will have to be taken against the MDP,” Fayaz said.

MDP Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor defined ‘Ingilaab’ as bringing about a change. He declined from commenting on the complaint currently being looked at by the EC.

The complaint is reported to have been registered with the EC earlier this month by Ibrahim Manik of Henveiru Finifenmaage Aage.  Manik was reported to have requested at the time that action be taken against the MDP’s plans for a revolution “at the earliest”.

“Since my mind believes that the MDP National Council’s decision to topple the government through a revolution may weaken the country politically, socially, economically and in the area of military defences, and the country may be faced with an unrecoverable loss, I am pleading with your commission with respect, love and affection to take necessary action against this without the slightest delay,” local media reports Manik to have said in his letter to the EC.

Meanwhile, former President and interim President of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has previously labelled the MDP’s resolution to bring about a revolution as a “criminal offence.”

Gayoom further said at the time that MDP’s announcement to commit the offence must be met with the due penalty, adding that the idea to orchestrate a revolution could not be entertained, stating: “It is an offence to even speak of such a thing.”

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MP Yameen proposes Parliament look into EC Member sexual harassment allegations

Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MP Abdulla Yameen has proposed that the Committee on Independent Institutions investigate allegations of sexual harassment against a member of the Elections Commission (EC).

Following a staff protest at the EC in March, a complaint was lodged with the oversight committee that some members were acting in breach of existing laws and regulations. A female employee of the EC who had attended a related committee meeting in June stated then that a member would take hold of her hand while she was serving drinks.

Chair of the committee Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed shared details of the issue. He stated that Yameen was referring to a matter where a female employee had stated that when she served coffee to a particular EC member, he would “take hold of [her] wrist and do something.”

Stating that the accused member had been summoned and questioned on the matter previously, Nasheed clarified that the issue was not an actual complaint filed by any staff member of EC.

Nasheed stated that after reviewing the responses the committee had at the time decided that it was not an issue that needed further attention.

However Yameen said that the matter should be reviewed under the clause regarding Personal Relations of Employees. He proposed that the employee who had made the allegation be summoned to committee to clarify more details of the matter.

Yameen raised the issue the day after the President of the Civil Service Commission Mohamed Fahmy was voted out of his post under sexual harassment allegations.

All PPM MPs who participated had voted against the removal of Fahmy.

Speaking at the debate on Fahmy’s removal, PPM MP Shifaq Mufeed said “We might be faced with an unrecoverable loss if we remove Fahmy, as he is a member of both the CSC and the JSC (Judicial Services Commission). If we remove Fahmy, there may come planned false allegations against other members of independent commissions.”

Elections Commission Vice President Ahmed Fayaz said that he had no knowledge of the matter.

“I have never received a complaint as such from any staff member about any EC members. Nor do I have any knowledge of such a complaint being even officially lodged, verbally or written, at either our commission, the police, gender ministry or anywhere else,” he added.

Minivan News tried contacting Yameen at the time of press, but he was not responding to calls at the time of press.

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Elections commission decide no fingerprints on political party membership forms

Political party membership forms will not include fingerprints, the elections commission has decided.

A decision was made by the independent bodies committee of parliament earlier this month due to concerns from political parties over the rejection of membership forms citing invalid or unclear fingerprints, a statement read.

The concern from political parties is that there is no system to verify the authenticity of the fingerprints on membership forms.

Elections commission stressed that since they enforced to include finger prints, the number of false registrations had reduced.

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Audit report flags irregularities in Elections Commission finances

The audit report of the Elections Commission (EC) for 2011 has flagged several expenses in violation of public finance law and regulations.

The report (Dhivehi) made public on Wednesday listed 20 cases of expenditure made by the EC ostensibly in violation of the Public Finance Act and regulations under the law.

Of MVR 19.2 million (US$123,216) sent by the commission to atoll offices for the local council elections in February 2011, the audit found that MVR 1.4 million (US$90,791) was entered into the EC’s financial statement despite not receiving either confirmation or details of the how the funds were spent.

Moreover, while a contract was awarded to a local company for MVR 4.9 million (US$317,769) to print ballot papers following a public announcement by the EC, the audit noted that the commission did not propose it to the tender evaluation board as required for projects exceeding MVR 1.5 million (US$97,276).

The audit also uncovered that the commission paid MVR334,700 (US$21,705) to a company contracted to provide sea transportation during the council elections, for trips not included in the agreement.

While MVR 536,803 (US$34,812) was agreed upon in the contract for 56 trips, the EC ended up paying the company MVR871,503 (US$56,517) due to a number of additional trips.

Agreements made with private parties to hire temporary staff as well as vehicles for use during the council elections could not be found among the EC’s documents, the audit report noted.

A total of MVR 183,238 (US11,883) was however paid for vehicles and short-term staff for the elections in February 2011.

The audit meanwhile could not verify whether deposits from 91 candidates for the council elections, who either received less than 10 percent of the vote or whose candidacies were invalidated, were entered into the state income account.

Based on documentation at the EC, the audit was also unable to verify whether deposits for 1,254 candidates were ever returned.

Phone expenses

Among the other cases highlighted in the report, the audit discovered that commission members spent extra days overseas during official trips to attend seminars and workshops.

The cost of the extended stays during such trips between January 2010 and April 2012 amounted to MVR50,438 (US$3,270) for food, incidentals and pocket money.

The audit also found that commission members transferred phone credit worth MVR5,585 (US$362) from their mobile phones, the bills for which are paid out of the EC budget.

An examination of international calls by commission members showed that a number of such calls were not related to official business.

The audit further revealed that from April 2010 to April 2012, MVR 92,009 (US$5,967) was spent out of the EC budget to pay mobile phone bills of commission members.

A total of MVR 116,954 (US$7,584) was meanwhile paid to EC employees as phone allowances in 2011.

The audit discovered that between December 2007 and August 2011, the commission spent MVR 248,790 (US$16,134) to buy 30 mobile phones for senior staff.

Based on a decision by the former Elections Commissioner in December 2007, 13 phones were to become personal property of the chosen senior staff after one year, the audit revealed.

“We note however that no law or regulation authorises giving away state property,” the report stated.

Moreover, most of the mobile phones were “the most expensive phones on the market at the time [of the purchases],” the audit report noted.

“In addition to the 13 mobile phones that were given to employees according to documentation at the commission, the records showed that five mobile phones worth MVR 49,135 (US$3,186) were lost,” the report stated, adding that no employees were held responsible and “compensation in any form was not sought” for the losses.

Some of the phones were discovered missing when “commission employees who were given the phones informed auditors that they were lost.”

A senior staff given a mobile phone worth MVR 14,195 (US$920) bought in 2008 did not return it when he or she left the commission, the audit noted, adding that corrective measures had not been taken on the issue despite recommendations in the EC’s 2010 audit report.

Other cases

The audit found that the EC did not sign agreements for work valued under MVR25,000 (US$1,621), despite public finance regulations stating that agreements must be signed for all government projects.

A total of MVR 249,494 (US$16,179) was paid out in 2011 without formal agreements.

The EC also hired a local company to service four photocopy machines for MVR40,000 (US$2,594) a year without a public bidding process and made an advance payment in violation of public finance regulations.

The audit noted that documentation did not show that the EC was receiving the company’s services each month as stipulated in the agreement.

Moreover, the commission did not seek quotations or estimates from three parties as required by regulations for procurements amounting to MVR 251,148 (US$16,287) in 2011, the audit discovered.

A number of expenses were meanwhile made out of the wrong budget code or item, the audit noted.

The audit report also noted that the EC made unnecessary purchases, such as a coffee maker for MVR 67,000 (US$4,345) in 2007, a Nikon D200 camera for MVR 233,298 (US$15,129) in 2008, six TV decoders, 16 TVs, 16 shredders, two washing machines, irons, a deep freezer, a mixer, a blender and a gas cooker.

Of 60 fax machines bought by the commission, 50 were kept unused in storage.

Moreover, items worth MVR 231,193 (US$14,993) were not entered into the registry of the EC’s stock inventory, the audit report noted.

The EC meanwhile failed to collect MVR 469,500 (US$30,447) owed as fines and deposits in 2011 and did not file cases at court as required by regulations.

As of December 2011, the audit revealed that the commission was owed MVR 260,000 (US$16,861) from seven political parties for failing to submit annual audit reports during the past five years.

Lastly, as of the report’s publication, the EC had not recovered MVR 12,999 (US$843) paid to staff in excess of their salaries and allowances.

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Elections Commission deputy backs dropping fingerprinting for party membership applications

A decision by Parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee to cease requiring fingerprints on political party application forms has been welcomed by Vice President of Elections Commission (EC) Ahmed Fayaz, who downplayed concerns over the potential for future membership fraud.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Fayaz stressed that the EC would not be officially commenting on the parliamentary commission’s decision yesterday until speaking with various party leaders. However, he claimed that he personally believed the Majlis recommendation to discontinue the use of fingerprints would make the system of membership applications more efficient and easier for both the EC and political parties.

Announcing the decision yesterday to recommend an end to fingerprinting, the Independent Institutions Committee members questioned the efficiency of such technology, arguing that no mechanism or database presently existed in the Maldives that could store the required amounts of information.

Nonetheless, local NGO the Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN) told Minivan News that while it was unsure of the efficiency of the EC’s fingerprint system, fraudulent membership registration for Maldivian political parties remained a significant problem that needed to be addressed. MDN claimed that alternative methods of party member verification should now be sought by parliament and the EC.

Fayaz responded that under regulations adopted in 2005, political parties had not been requested to submit membership forms to the EC. Instead, he said they have been required every three months to produce a list of their members including names and their ID number.

“When these lists are sent, these members should not be registered with other political parties,” he said. “[Parties] must check for themselves that these members are genuine.”

Fayaz said he believed that the present system of checking party membership lists every three months left little room for “fraud” within the system. He claimed therefore that a larger issue facing party membership rather than fraud was the state system of giving payments to parties on the basis of which group had the largest number of followers.

Fayaz accepted that the use of a verification system “like fingerprinting” could help stop possible fraud within party memberships, particularly in the case of people charged with recruiting members for the country’s political parties.

“I think some of the people doing recruiting [for parties] may in cases go beyond the rules,” he said, noting that there had been an improvement in following regulations in recent years.

Upon taking his oath of office along with current EC President Fuad Thaufeeq back in 2009, Fayaz claimed they had discovered “a culture” at the commission where regulations were often not being followed as required under laws outlining political party memberships.

“Perhaps under pressure from political parties there was a regulation where membership lists were not being checked every quarter,” he added, claiming that regulations were now being upheld up by the EC.

Speaking to Minivan News yesterday, MDN Executive Director Humaida Abdul Gafoor said the NGO was extremely concerned at ongoing cases of members being signed up to parties fraudulently.

“Often, people are not aware they have been signed up,” she stated. “It is imperative that it is down to an individual to decide which party they want to belong to and no one else.”

Humaida Abdul Gafoor said it was vital that some form of verification mechanism was in place to ensure party memberships were genuine, adding that a bigger issue facing the committee was in finding alternatives to the fingerprint technology, rather than simply halting it.

“We don’t know if the EC’s adoption of fingerprinting was a move in the right direction in first place,” she added.

System criticism

Explaining the decision to discontinue the EC’s request for fingerprints, Deputy Chairman of the Independent Institutions Committee, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Sameer, said that the Maldives did not presently have a mechanism or system to collect and store such information.

“In regards to issues with the fingerprinting system, the EC, Department of National Registration and the Maldives Police Service all agreed they didn’t have enough records or verification systems available,” he told Minivan News.

One ongoing critic of the EC’s fingerprint system is MP Ahmed Mahloof of the government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

Back in September, Mahloof alleged via local media that close to 8000 membership forms from his party have been rejected by the Elections Commission (EC) – mainly due to the quality of fingerprints appearing on the forms.

The MP claimed that the fingerprint issue had arisen because the EC did not have sufficiently modern machinery to look at the fingerprints, relying instead on the perception of its staff – drastically limiting memberships numbers for the party.

A spokesperson for the EC told Minivan News at the time that similar complaints had been received from other political parties including the Jumhoree Party (JP), Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP), and the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

PPM MP Mahloof, DRP chief Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and DQP Leader Dr Hassan Saeed were not responding to phone calls by Minivan News at the time of going to press.

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