High Court of the Maldives has ordered the Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) to recount the votes of the council presidency in Kondey, Gaafu Alifu Atoll.
High Court issued the order due to a complaint filed by Shuaib Mohamed Didi, who had run for Kondey's council presidency in the local council elections held on April 10. His complaint is in regards to handling of identifying and separating the invalid votes from the rest of the ballots by ECM officials.
After the complaint was filed, High Court ordered the Local Government Authority (LGA) to postpone the oath-taking of Kondey's council president-elect. High Court has stated there was enough evidence to require a recount of the three ballot boxes placed in Kondey in the elections.
Three candidates had run for Kondey's council presidency in the elections. The official elections results, published by the ECM, showed that ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate Ahmed Abdul Hakeem had won the seat with 130 votes, with independent candidate Shuaib coming in second with 128 votes.
A total of seven elections-related complaints were filed at the High Court, out of which five have been dismissed. The court is currently looking in to the complaint regarding the election of the council president of Maabaidhoo, Laamu Atoll.