1.1 million ballot papers to be printed for council elections

The Elections Commission (EC) has revealed that 1.1 million ballot papers will be printed for the upcoming local council election.
Speaking to AVAS, Vice President and Chief Spokesperson of EC Ahmed Akram said the commission is preparing well for the election and that several changes different from the most recent three elections will be in effect during the council election.
Akram revealed that 1.1 million ballot papers will be printed for the election, and said that such a large amount of ballot papers have to be printed due to recent changes on how the election will be conducted, and because officials will be elected to the Women Development Committees of the cities the same day.
According to the current laws, separate ballot papers must be used to vote for island council members (general), island council members (female), island council presidents, atoll council president, city council members (general), city council members (female), city mayors, and those elected to the Women Development Committees.
A total of 980 officials will be elected to island, atoll and city councils in the upcoming 2020 local council election.
These include 744 island councillors, 179 island council presidents, 18 atoll councillors, 36 city councillors and 3 mayors. 33% of the councils will be occupied by women as per recent amendments to the Decentralization Act.
The 2020 local council election is slated for April 4.