Eight political parties in Maldives dissolved

The Elections Commission of Maldives has dissolved eight political parties, following their failure to bring their membership up to the 3,000-mark as required by the Political Parties Act of the country before the deadline set by the regulator.

The parties that were dissolved Thursday were Islamic Democratic Party, Maldivian Social Democratic Party, Social Liberal Party, Maldivian National Congress, People's Alliance, People's Party, Maldivian Labour Party and Dhivehi Gaumee Party, the Sun Online reported.

The commission earlier announced that 10 parties with less than 3,000 members would be struck off from the registration list.

Gaumee Itthihad Party and Maldives Reform Movement, which were also included on the list Jan 6, were not ordered dissolved eventually.

The commission said that most of these parties were not active.

The authority also said that it had failed to deliver letters and other documents to these parties as the locations of their offices were unknown.

The commission added that, while the government funds were provided to these parties, they did not submit audit reports as required.