DRP is now the largest party, says EC

The Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party regained its lost status on Wednesday becoming the largest political party in the Maldives again, according to the latest figures released by the Elections Commission.

“As of end today [Wednesday] there are 32,585 members in DRP while MDP has 30,883 members,” President of the Elections Commission, Fuwad Thowfeeq told the Asian Tribune.

On Wednesday, the Commission finished processing the 2000 forms received from the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party.

But this newly acquired status for the DRP will prove to be short-lived when another 3000 MDP applications are processed by the Commission in few weeks.

“We have about 3000 forms from MDP which we will start tomorrow and may take 2-3 weeks to process them,” Fuwad noted.

The ruling MDP’s number is poised to go past the DRP once the new applications are processed.

The two main parties, the ruling MDP and the opposition DRP, are apparently in a tight race to become the largest party of the country.

But it has been a roller coaster ride for the two, since the majority status keep changing every time a new set of applications are processed.

Prior to the latest numbers released on March 11, the MDP became the largest political party in the country recording a membership of 31,171, last month.

The DRP had 30,775 members then.

Meanwhile, the Adhaalath Party has 5895 members; IDP, 5251; DQP, 3454; JP, 7397 and the PA, 3237 members, according to the latest statistics.

Fuwad has often told the media that people sometimes register with one party whilst being in the registers of another, making it impossible for the commission to register them with the second party.

It is necessary for a person to resign from one party in order to join another.

Asked if the Commission has the number of such cases Fuwad said: “we have numbers for each batch of forms separately. We have not yet compiled them.

“Due to the limited staff and time in comparison to the workload, we regret that we cannot provide the figures immediately,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Elections Commission is busy preparing for the local elections scheduled to take place soon.

Besides, the Commission is working on revising the existing rules and regulations of political parties, Fuwad added.

It also had consultative meetings with all political parties to identify issues and challenges they have and also how parties can work together along with the commission to overcome them.

- Asian Tribune -