Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has responded to all the complaints submitted regarding the permanent voters’ list for the upcoming presidential election.
ECM accepted complaints regarding the voters’ list from June 11-22. During the 10 days, the electoral body received 551 complaints, of which 465 complaints were over names of deceased being in the list, 58 complaints over changed addresses, 19 complaints regarding the absence of names, five complaints over name changes, three complaints over change in addresses, and one complaint over the change in national identification card. The largest number of complaints were submitted on June 22, with 348 complaints.
ECM has responded to all the complaints and will publish changes to the list on the Government Gazette within a week as well as publish the final voters’ list. Only those on the list can vote in the first round of the presidential election and the electoral body has thanked political parties, local councils, election focal points and individuals for their assistance in preparing an accurate list.
Furthermore, ECM will allow voters in islands other than their resident islands to re-register online for the presidential election. As such, the opportunity to re-register will be opened on July 16 while the opportunity to re-register online will be closed on July 29 and ECM will then accept physical re-registration forms until August 5.
The presidential election is scheduled to be held on September 9 and a possible second round will be held on September 30. The eligible voting population for the presidential election is 282,672 voters and over 600 ballot boxes will be placed for the presidential election, which is the largest number of boxes to be placed in any election in the Maldives. ECM has established its main headquarters for the election at Dharubaaruge' convention centre.