The Civil Court has ruled that the Elections Commission dissolved the Maldives Reform Movement, a party founded by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, unlawfully.
The Electoral watchdog moved to dissolve MRM stating that it had failed to meet the 3,000-member requirement stated under the law after being given the chance to meet the number last May.
MRM had then filed a civil case at the Court to contest the Commission's decision and the presiding judge Mohamed Isafulhu stated in his ruling that the notice sent by the Commission to MRM stating its decision to dissolve the party goes against the Political Party Act.
The Commission had notified MRM in February of 2023 that it had not met the 3,000-member requirement as it had only 2,981 members at that time. The Court's ruling said that MRM was working in line with this number given by the Commission and that the notice did not mention unprocessed member application forms. The ruling also noted that during the period of notice, members have been added and removed from the party registry and that unnecessary time was taken to process some of the application forms.
The Civil Court ruling said that with these discrepancies, the Election Commission's decision to dissolve the party goes against Article 43 of the Constitution. It moved to revoke the Commission's decision to dissolve the party and the decisions that followed.
The Court also ordered the Commission to pay MVR 50,000 as compensation to MRM as legal dues.
