Elections Commission (EC) has identified the three candidates who contested September’s presidential election whose financial statements meet the legal requirements as President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu from PNC, former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih from MDP, and Qasim Ibrahim from Jumhoory Party.
EC’s Vice Chairperson Ismail Habeeb said that the financial statements of all remaining candidates, apart from the aforesaid three, do not meet the legal requirements. He explained all bills and bank statements are included among documents that need to be submitted alongside the financial statements.
“Different candidates failed to meet different requirements. Have decided to fine them over the lack of submission of legally required documents,” he said.
The five candidates whose financial statements failed to meet the legal requirements are;
- Ilyas Labeeb (Democrats)
- Hassan Zameel (Independent)
- Faris Maumoon (Independent)
- Mohamed Nazim (Maldives National Party)
- Umar Naseer (Independent)
Habeeb said that the five candidates will be fined MVR 20,000 in accordance with the law, while their election agents will be fined MVR 6,000. All of them will have to settle the fine within 30 days, he added.
The deadline to submit the financial statements by the presidential candidates was November 30th.
September 9th’s election moved to a runoff between then-president Solih and current President Muizzu after neither of the candidates managed to secure 50 percent of the votes required to win the election outright.
The runoff was won by President Muizzu with 54 percent of the votes while then-president Solih won 46 of the votes.
Presidential candidates are required to disclose details of their election-related expenses, how they got the funding, and their bank account statements. They are also required to disclose information of individual donors, the exact donations, and receipts to prove the authenticity of the information.
The Elections Act prescribes the imposition of fines as the first course of action if candidates fail to submit their financial statements in accordance with the law.
