The Elections Commission (EC) has revealed that ballot boxes will be placed in foreign countries where at least 150 people are registered for voting in the upcoming local council election.
In an interview given to RaajjeTV on Saturday, Vice President of the commission Ahmed Akram said the ballot boxes will be placed in countries that has a Maldivian consulate or an embassy. Additionally, 150 Maldivians must be registered for voting for a ballot box to be placed at the respective country.
Ballot boxes will be placed in Maldives prisons where at least 25 people register for voting. In the case of resorts a ballot box will be placed if a minimum of 50 people are registered for voting from a resort, said Akram.
"We will open the opportunity for all resorts to register for voting. In the past, we opened for vote registration at some resorts only. On the contrary, for the upcoming election, we will open the opportunity for all resorts, and will place boxes in resorts where at least 50 people register for voting with the assistance of the resort's management," said Akram.
Over one million ballot papers will be printed for the local council election slated for April 4, 2020. EC said 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's 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 presidents, city council members (general), city council members (female), city mayors, and those elected to the Women's Development Committees.
A total of 980 officials will be elected to island, atoll and city councils in the council election.
Vice President of EC Ahmed Akram - Photo: Salween Abdul Hameed, AVAS
