This election will be more free and transparent than any past election, assures Elections Commission

President of the Elections Commission Fuad Thaufeeg has assured that he is confident that the upcoming presidential election will be held in a more free and transparent environment than any previous election in the country.

With about sixteen days left for the presidential election, questions are being raised by various political groups regarding the credibility of the election.

In an interview, Fuad dismissed the accusations being made about the election calling them “baseless”, and said that unlike past elections, candidates have the freedom to campaign for this election.

“There were clashes during the preparations for past elections, but this year, the candidates are campaigning peacefully. The accusations being made by some politicians about the credibility of the election are baseless,” he said.

Presidential candidate of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Abdullah Yameen has raised concerns regarding the issue of only one official of the commission having the password for the voters’ information database, saying that this facilitates the opportunity to alter that information.

“No member of the commission, not even the database manager, has the freedom to make changes to the voters’ database. The data, immediately after being entered, is locked. No changes can be made afterwards. So it’s not a problem that only one person has the password,” said Fuad.

The Elections Commission has said that the final list of voters will be sent to presidential candidates and uploaded on the commission’s website today.