The Elections Commission has shared its concerns with parliament's Public Accounts Committee about the local council elections set for next month.
The commission met the committee regarding its request to increase the previously assigned budget for the polls.
Speaking at the committee today, the President of the Elections Commission Ahmed Shareef said if the polls are held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the expenditure for the whole electoral process would increase. He added that a lot more time should also be invested to hold the polls in such a situation.
He outlined the outcomes of the dummy elections organized by the commission and revealed that it took election observers 12-hours to count the most basic ballot box.
Shareef said that election officials cannot travel to the Atolls during the pandemic and have to resort to hold online training sessions to prepare officials from the islands. He noted that this could lead to other issues if such trainings are not conducted accordingly.
He highlighted that holding the polls amid the pandemic would result in a failure and that all the members of the commission agree on this possible outcome.
The Elections Commission today met the parliamentary committee on independent institutions too and addressing the committee Shareef said that the commission was facing some hurdles in terms because of the guidelines set by the Supreme Court in relation to the 2013 presidential elections.
He added that the commission has since decided to ask the Supreme court to revoke the guidelines.
The guidelines set by the country's top court does not allow online re-registration of voters but require each voter to stamp their fingerprint on the re-registration form.
