Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) has revealed the local council elections will be held in April 2020.
Speaking to the media, President of ECM Ahmed Shareef said although a date have not been decided yet, it has been decided to hold the elections during April. Elaborating on the preparations for the elections, Shareef said arrangements have been made to ease the voting process of the largest elections held in the country, adding ECM has decided that a maximum of 700 votes would be cast to each ballot box. He said it is expected an additional 178 ballot boxes would be used in the elections, compared with the previous polls held.
Furthermore, in regard to the changes, ECM would have to deploy 6,000-7,000 officials on voting day, according to the head of the electoral body. He estimated the elections would cost about USD 4.5 million. Opportunity to submit candidacy documents to compete in the elections would be opened in February 2020, according to ECM.
Local council elections would elected council members to island council and city councils. With hundreds of candidates participating, it is regarded as the largest elections that are held in Maldives.