Working tirelessly to hold election on Saturday, says Fuad

Elections Commission has said that efforts to hold fresh presidential elections on 19th October, Saturday, will continue, even until the last possible minute.

When noted at a press conference on Wednesday night that the commission still has a lot of tasks to fulfill before the elections, the commission’s president Fuad Thaufeeq said that they are working “tirelessly, without sleep or rest,” to hold the election on Saturday.

He said that they are "forced to chase time” and have always had a minimum of 45 days to stage an election, in contrast to the 11 days granted by Supreme Court for the presidential re-run on Saturday.

When asked if it is possible to have the election postponed, EC Member Ali Mohamed Manik said, “I have read the verdict time and again. I couldn’t find a way it could be postponed.” He said that EC does not intend to ask the Supreme Court for a postponement.

It is hard to say when they can present the voters' list to the candidates, Ali Mohamed Manik said, but that he hopes that all candidates will be willing to sign the list.

He said that 56,240 re-registration forms were processed by Wednesday, with about 10,000 forms remaining. The commission is currently looking into all complaints regarding the re-registration, Ali Mohamed Manik said.