Elections Commission has said printing 5 ballot papers separately for the upcoming local council election will cost the commission over USD 723,000.
Speaking to the National Advisory Committee on Elections, President of EC Ahmed Shareef said printing 1 ballot paper for the election will ease the process and save a significant amount of funds. The commission needs to print 1.1 million ballot papers if ballot papers are to be printed separately for different elections while printing one ballot paper for all elections would require 800,000 ballot papers, said Shareef. He said which will cost USD 518,806.
Moreover, he further highlighted the vote counting process will also be easier with the use of one paper. While the use of one ballot paper requires 10 hours to count the results, the use of 5 ballot boxes for 5 elections will double the counting time to 20 hours.
The meeting with the advisory council ended without a final decision on the matter and the committee will meet again to discuss the matter. The commission also decided to seek counsel of political parties and other relevant authorities.
The upcoming local council elections is a combination of five elections with the election of island councils, atoll councils, island council president, and the women’s development committee in addition to city council elections. The current decision on the use of ballot boxes is to print 5 ballot papers for all five elections.