Electoral body refutes voters list discrepancy claim

The voters’ registry for the upcoming local council elections is in line with the apex court’s guidelines and do not have any discrepancies, Elections Commission member Ahmed Akram insisted on Tuesday.

Main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and its coalition partner Jumhoory Party (JP) had raised questions about the voters’ registry, arguing that the lists that were presented to them were not consistent.

The opposition candidates have refused to approve the registry until the discrepancies they noted have been fixed.

However, Akram claimed that the opposition’s claims are “outright lies” and that the voters’ registry is perfectly in line with the 16-point guideline set by the apex court during the presidential election of 2013 as a precedent for elections.

He said that the voters’ registry that the candidates had to sign and approve would have the ID numbers of eligible voters, as stated in the apex court’s guidelines.

He further said that MDP had requested the commission, in writing, to reveal more information about the eligible voters, but that the commission could not comply as they as it would involve revealing personal information about the voters.

“No party has officially said that they will not approve the voters’ registry, nor have they rejected the voters’ registry openly yet. We urge all political parties not to spread misinformation about the work [the Elections Commission] is doing. We are working in line with the apex court’s guidelines in all local council election related matters,” Akram affirmed.

Elections Commission let ‘Avas’ view the voters’ registries that the commission had prepared; and as the commission had stated, the voters’ registry that the candidates had to approve had the full-names, ID card numbers and the addresses of the constituents. However, the lists that were provided to political parties and the public, does not include the ID card numbers or the addresses of the constituents.

The opposition claims that all the lists must be consistent and identical, and having different variations of voters’ registry is in contravention of the guidelines set up by the apex court.

Both JP and MDP’s spokespeople have stated that they are boycotting the registry till the discrepancies they noted have been fixed.

However, according to Akram, a lot of JP and MDP candidates have already endorsed the voters’ registry already in order to avoid further delays to the vote.

The local council election is slated for May 6.