Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has stated the parliament will not bring any changes to the scheduled date for the local council elections.
The local council elections, along with the women’s development committee elections, are scheduled to be held on April 10. However, Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has submitted a letter to the Parliament of the Maldives, listing the legal obstructions in conducting the elections on April 10 as scheduled. The issues highlighted by ECM in the letter submitted to the Parliament on February 11 mainly included the difficulties and obstructions in conducting the elections on the scheduled date while following the HPA guidelines for the elections.
Announcing that the parliament had received the letter from ECM, Speaker Nasheed said he does not believe there is any reason to further postpone the elections. The speaker said no changes will be brought to the election date, and called on ECM and other relevant institutions to carry on preparations to conduct the elections as scheduled without any further delays.
Some of the issues highlighted by ECM includes obstructions in providing equal opportunities to all candidates to conduct their campaigns, the requirement for ECM to facilitate voting for individuals who test positive for COVID-19 or undergo quarantine, and the lack of options for resort employees to cast their vote.
Furthermore, ECM also highlighted that candidate representatives, monitors and observers are not allowed to stay in the polling stations, which could raise further questions on the credibility of the elections. ECM also noted additional budget is required to acquire more officials and ballot boxes which would be required to conduct the elections in accordance to HPA guidelines.
As per the Special Act on Local Council Elections, which was ratified last year to allow the elections to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the elections must be held within one year of the date of ratification of the Act. Therefore, according to this clause, the elections must be held latest by May 9.