The last presidential election took place with the largest pool of candidates in the country’s history. Both rounds of the election in September saw costly and spirited campaigns.
Some candidates traveled to islands with extremely large entourages on charter flights and rented speedboats. A campaign yacht that traveled in the atolls was also seen during the election.
Banners and posters filled the capital Male’ and other islands until the campaign ended. Two or three large rallies were held every night. In addition, the amount of “secret” unreported cash that exchanged hands would surely have been considerable.
From both rounds of the campaign, the public saw candidates conduct costly and expensive campaigns.
But when the Elections Commission (EC) on Wednesday published campaign finance disclosures of the eight candidates who contested in the presidential election, the financial statements paint a different picture. The records do not show any significant expenditure.
Figures from financial statements
- Ahmed Faris Maumoon - MVR 1,166,064
- Ibrahim Mohamed Solih - MVR 10,476,127
- Ilyas Labeeb - MVR 2,518,508
- Mohamed Nazim - MVR 13,075,900
- Dr. Mohamed Muizzu - MVR 21,228,817
- Hassan Zameel - MVR 16,259
- Umar Naseer - MVR 285,950
- Qasim Ibrahim - MVR 20,421,050
The statements made public today show that the candidates spent a total of MVR 69,188,675 on their campaigns. The largest amount was spent by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu who won the election. According to his disclosure, he only spent MVR 21,228,817 for the two rounds of the entire election.
The smallest amount was spent by independent candidate Hassan Zameel, whose total expenditure was only MVR 16,259 according to his statement.
The second largest amount was spent by Jumhooree Party (JP) candidate Qasim Ibrahim. His statements shows a total expenditure of MVR 20,421,050. The third largest amount according to the statements was by Maldives National Party (MNP) candidate Mohamed Nazim, who reported spending MVR 13,075,900 for his campaign on both rounds.
Former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the incumbent at the time and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate, disclosed expenses of MVR 10,476,127. The Democrats party candidate Ilyas Labeeb reported expenses of MVR 2,518,508.
Independent candidate Faris Maumoon spent MVR 1,166,064 according to his financial statement. The other independent candidate Umar Naseer only reported spending MVR 285,950.
