Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) has said it does not hold the legal authority to postpone the upcoming local council elections (LCE) and the women's development committee (WDC) elections.
Speaking at the National Advisory Committee, the head of the electoral body Ahmed Shareef said ECM is mandated to hold all elections within a certain duration as stated in the law. He added the lawful mandate of the electoral body is to hold the elections within the timeframe, adding the elections must be held before May 3 according to the law.
Answering to questions posed seeking to postpone the elections due to the situation of the country amid COVID-19, Shareef revealed the only possibility of postponing the elections is following a court order. Shareef said the situation in the country is not deemed to postpone the elections yet.
Furthermore, the head of the electoral body revealed it will cost a huge sum from the state budget if the elections are postponed. In this regard, Shareef said while over a third of the budget allocated for elections has been utilised, an additional USD 2 million will be required if the elections are postponed. He noted it could be challenging to allocate more funds for the elections.
Following the detection of COVID-19 in Maldives, there have been calls to postpone the elections scheduled to be held on April 4. So far, Maldives has recorded 8 COVID-19 cases.