High cost barrier and vote buying dominate Maldives elections

Campaigns typically cost between MVR 2 million (US$ 129,700) and MVR 5 million with some races costing up to MVR 15 million, according to the “Cost of Politics” study, which was based on interviews with 22 key informants, including 13 recent parliamentary candidates.

Up to 90 percent of campaign budgets are allocated for vote buying, the report revealed. The standard "market rate" for a single vote was MVR 5,000 across both urban and rural constituencies.

Sophisticated vote-buying operations involve groups of voters forming "unions" to negotiate bloc deals with candidates. Some voters sell their ID cards to prevent themselves from voting. Bundles of 40 cards were allegedly sold for around MVR 100,000.

The report echoed a pre-election assessment by Transparency Maldives for the 2024 parliamentary elections. Candidates reported voters directly asking for money in exchange for their votes, the assessment noted, flagging legal loopholes and weak enforcement mechanisms.

Ahead of last April’s polls, media reports and anecdotal evidence suggested an entrenched culture of widespread vote buying with transactions conducted brazenly outside polling stations. “The public will has become something that is up for sale for politicians to buy,” a journalist observed in a post-election report by Dhauru.

Money in politics is unavoidable. But it could become a barrier to entry and a means of excluding participation, Aryj Hussain, WFD’s Maldives Country Director, warned in her presentation at the report launching ceremony on Thursday night.

“When money becomes one of the primary determinants of political success, that’s when democracy starts looking less like a level playing field, and more like an exclusive club with a really expensive membership fee,” she said.

The report outlined how this dynamic has led to governance stagnation, as elected officials remain focused on short-term political survival rather than the long-term public good. 

“When political appointments and government jobs are auctioned off in election campaigns instead of being awarded on merit, institutions weaken and decision-making becomes politicised,” Aryj continued. “Instead of functioning as pillars of democracy, institutions start resembling exclusive clubs where access depends on who you know and what you will pay.”

The report highlighted the systematic exclusion of women, youth, and persons with disabilities from leadership and policymaking roles. Financial constraints coupled with entrenched socio-cultural biases create significant barriers for these groups, limiting diversity in political representation.

In the 2024 elections, only three out of 43 female candidates were elected to the 93-member house. Many women candidates face harassment, character assassination, and gendered attacks, which discourages broader participation, the report stated.

Young people are increasingly disengaged from the political process with many youth seeing peers who enter politics as having "sold out" or becoming "puppets" of political party leaders.

The other major issue flagged in the report was the abuse of state resources with the launching of new projects and leveraging of high-salaried political appointments and public sector jobs.

Ruling party candidates commonly offer 40 to 100 jobs in state-owned enterprises, the findings indicated. The total cost of these promises was estimated to reach MVR 25 million over five years. Government contracts are also used to raise funds and influence voter behaviour. 

"With regional utility SOE employees in particular, it was difficult for us to track the number of employees in connection with elections increasing. Sometimes there are island offices where you need five or so staff, but there are 25 or so people hired," a civil society representative explained.

State media coverage meanwhile overwhelmingly favours pro-government candidates. Unsurprisingly, the outcome of recent parliamentary elections were heavily skewed in the government’s favour. Last year, the ruling People's National Congress secured a supermajority of 75 seats. 

Voters believe their representative needs ties to the executive in order to be effective and  act as an intermediary. As a result, policy discussions are increasingly sidelined in favor of vote buying, perpetuating the system of patronage and transactional politics. 

Assuring basic services such as sewerage is foremost on the minds of voters on more than 180 islands outside the capital’s urban centre, which reinforces an incumbency bias and a preference for candidates from the party in government.

Speaking at the launch event, the new British High Commissioner urged Maldivians to engage with the report's findings and to seek meaningful reforms.

“Now some of that report in front of you is not going to make comfortable reading. I’m sorry about that but it’s the way it is,” Nick Low remarked. “Please read it carefully, for those of you in politics, look where you can make progress.”

He sketched out the UK’s own centuries-long journey towards representative democracy from the Magna Carta to the eventual inclusion of all citizens in the electoral process. Reform takes time but is necessary, he said.

The report offered a raft of recommendations:

Both candidates and voters want change but feel trapped in a prisoner's dilemma where unilateral reform could spell defeat or loss of power, the report suggested.

"If someone tries to honestly approach politics where they try to avoid the corrupt costs of politics methods, political opponents and parties will close ranks around them to try damage them reputationally and attack their character," a candidate lamented.