The Civil Court on Monday quashed the decision by the Election Commission (EC) to dissolve the Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) led by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
EC dissolved MRM on 24 May 2023 after determining that it did not meet the legal minimum membership threshold of 3,000 members. The commission said the decision was taken after MRM could not establish enough members within the timeframe given by the elections body.
Gayoom and his son, Ahmed Farish Maumoon, who ran as an independent presidential candidate in the 2023 elections due to MRM being invalidated as a political party by EC, had expressed their dissatisfaction with EC, calling into question the legality of the decision. The matter was then taken up with the courts with the judicial body issuing a stay order on the implementation of the decision.
While the ruling against EC has been announced, with MRM and the commission both confirming the court’s decision, details of the ruling have not yet been made available by the Civil Court.
