Elections Commission (EC) has stated on Saturday that some individuals that arrived to submit their candidacy forms to contest as members of the Women’s Development Committee (WDCs) for the upcoming local council election had threatened and intimidated the employees of EC.
The Vice President of EC, Ahmed Akram said that some individuals who attended the commission on Friday and Saturday to submit their candidacy forms for WDCs in upcoming local council election had threatened employees of EC, and the commission is extremely concerned about it.
Akram said that the issue will be reported to the relevant authorities and, the commission will take swift legal actions against such people. He further said that EC is painstakingly working to conduct the election in a smooth manner.
EC has opened the applications for the local council election and election for WDCs slated for 4 April. The three main political parties of the Maldives; Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and Jumhooree Party (JP) held their primaries to decide members who will contest for the election on behalf of the parties.
Even during the presidential election, there was an issue of threatening and intimidation of EC employees and its members. The opposition PPM that lost in the presidential election alleged that EC members had contaminated the election results. However, EC members denied the allegation. A case was filed at the Supreme Court requesting to nullify the election. Conversely, the court decided that there was no substantial evidence to nullify the election.
A picture that was taken in a previous election
