Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) has forwarded the cases of candidates who did not submit financial statements to the Prosecutor General's Office, to press charges. In a tweet, ECM confirmed the cases of candidates who did not submit the financial statements have been sent to the PG Office.
Although the deadline was passed, 39 candidates failed to submit their financial statements. 347 parliamentary candidates from the 386 candidates who contested in the parliamentary elections submitted their financial reports before the deadline.
A report detailing the financial matters of the election must be prepared and submitted by each candidate within 30 days following the election, including, expenses incurred by the candidate, details of the expenses incurred during the electoral campaign, details of the manner in which contributions were procured for election expenses, details of persons and amounts contributed as election expenses and a bank account statement which shows all the transactions carried out from the account opened for the election, according to Elections General Act.
Candidates who failed to submit the statements include 31 independent candidates, 3 candidates from the opposition coalition and 1 candidate from Adhaalath Party (AP). Moreover, 4 candidates from Maldives Third-Way Democrats (MTD) and Maldives Labour and Social Democratic Party (MLSDP) also failed to submit financial statements.
In any election, failing to uphold any mentioned action in the law is considered an electoral violation and any individual found in violation of the law is guilty of an offence and offenders could face imprisonment for a term between 6-24 months or a fine, to be determine based on the magnitude of the offence, according to the amendment to the Elections General Act.