The Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has stated that the voter re-registration list will be published and opened for complaints. ECM made the statement after the main opposition expressed concern over the re-registration process.
At a press conference held by the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the People's National Congress (PNC), Vice President of PNC Mohamed Saeed questioned the validity of submitting re-registration forms online. He also expressed concern over the large amount of rejected forms and said that these concerns have been shared with international observers.
Responding to the concerns, Vice President of ECM Ismail Habeeb assured that there are no issues with the re-registration process. He also denied claims that the commission's database control is accessible to other parties and said that the database is closed and secure. In addition, Habeeb said that ECM will verify all online re-registration forms and that the commission will publish the re-registration list and open it to complaints.
In a press release, ECM stated that the online re-registration portal has been used since the 2020 local council elections and has the trust of all political parties. The commission stated that the portal is maintained with the assistance of an IT security consultant and is not accessible to former commission members or other parties. It also stated that the portal is being used for the convenience of voters and urged individuals not to spread misinformation regarding the portal that undermines trust in the electoral process.
Additionally, ECM stated that no issues occurred during the process of re-registering 40,000 forms for the first round of the presidential election. The commission also received 47,000 re-registration forms for the second round and 19,000 forms have been registered while 27,000 forms are being processed. It stated that the re-registration list would be published in the Government Gazette and on the ECM website. Most of the forms were submitted by the parties of the candidates.