EC fully prepared for Saturday's election

Elections Commission (EC) has announced that the commission is fully prepared for the parliamentary election scheduled for Saturday.

Commissioner of Elections Ahmed Shareef said in a press conference held on Thursday that all election related administrative work has been completed. The remaining tasks are the voting stage, the counting of ballots and the announcement of results, he said.

"All administrative work has been completed. The last task was arranging officials to be sent abroad. The last remaining officials have now reached Sri Lanka, all officials have been stationed at the respective countries", said Shareef.

Shareef informed that voting would begin in Maldives at 8.00am and continue until 4.00pm. Voting in neighboring India and Sri Lanka will begin at 8.30am local time and will go on until 4.30pm. Voting will begin at 11.00am until 7.00pm in Malaysia, and from 9.30am to 5.30pm in London, United Kingdom.

Shareef said the temporary results of the ballot boxes will be announced at the polling stations as dictated by the law, while the results are simultaneously updated on the Commission's website. The results sheet will also be displayed at a public area. 8631 results sheets will be prepared during the parlimantry election.

Explaining the reasons that a vote may be disqualified, Shareef said ticking outside the box parallel to the name of a candidate would not disqualify a vote, however, any additional marks would disqualify the vote.

Referring to the seven petitions filed at the High Court regarding the election, Shareef said while the court is set to deliver verdicts on all seven cases on Thursday, he does not believe it is likely that the court would issue an order that cannot be implemented by the commission.

The law states that the permanent results of the election has to be announced seven days from the date of the election, therefore, the permanent results wouldo be announced latest by night on April 12, while the EC is confident that the temporary result can be announced within two days from the date of election.

No pressing complaints or concerns have been received by the commission regarding the election, added Shareef.