Voting underway in Bar Council election

Voting is underway to elect members for the newly established Bar Council.

The voting began early Saturday morning in capital Male' and Feydhoo island of Addu City, with two ballot boxes placed at Jamaluddin School in Male' and one box placed at Sharafuddin School in Feydhoo island.

All regulatory power related to Legal Professionals including issuing licenses and penalization falls within the mandate of the Bar Council.

Six attorneys will be on the Bar Council in addition to the Council's President, Vice President and the Attorney General. All members with the exception of the Attorney General will be elected through Saturday's election.

While two candidates are contesting against each other for the position of the President of the council, 19 candidates are competing for council membership. Former Attorney General Husnu Al Suood and renowned attorney Maumoon Hameed face off against each other for council presidency, while former Attorney Gneral Abdulla Muizz is competing against Civil Court Judge Mohamed Haleem for Vice Presidency.

Competing for council membership are Ali Naseer Gasim, Shabaab Rasheed, Aminath Aryj Hussain, Anaaraa Naeem, Ahmed Muizu, Mohamed Shafaz Wajeeh, Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, Zubair Ahmed Manik, Mohamed Faisal, Abdul Salam Arif, Anas Abdul Sattar, Mohamed Waheed Najeeb, Safa Shareef, Abdul Maniu Hussain, Mohamed Fareed, Zimna Abdul Muhusin, Aisha Sujun, Ali Shah and Mohamed Aseel Hassan.

Elections Commission of the Maldives (EC) project that approximately MVR one million will be spent on the Bar Council election. The provisional results will be announced on Saturday and official result will be announced on Sunday, informed EC.