Male’, Maldives — The Health Protection Agency has fined political parties by a total of MVR 55,000 for violating the HPA guidelines.
According to the Maldives Police Service, for violating the guidelines given by HPA against the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the ruling party, MDP has been fined by MVR 5,000 and the Opposition Coalition PPM & PNC has been fined by MVR 25,000 each.
While the Opposition has been fined with a total of MVR 50,000 for repeated violation of HPA guidelines during protests, MDP was fined for holding a party event last Friday for a large amount of people who gathered at one place in Male’ city. With this, MDP has violated the guideline of HPA that states that gathering of more than five people in the greater Male’ area is banned as a protective measure against Covid-19.
The Opposition coalition has criticized the Police for not taking measures against the ruling party, MDP despite them violating the HPA guidelines on various occasions.
The Police has dispersed protests by the Opposition coalition on multiple occassions with arrests and fines for protestors. The Opposition has filed an official complaint to the Elections Commission regarding the discrimination.
