EC claims police overstepped legal mandate, calls on authorities to investigate

Elections Commission has accused the Maldives Police Service of overstepping their legal charge when they stopped providing support to the commission to conduct the presidential election, today.

In a statement released moments ago, the commission called on all police oversight bodies to investigate the police’s conduct.

The commission stated the commission sits bound to an order by the Supreme Court to safely transport the ballot papers in conjunction with the security forces and that, the Maldives Police Service had violated the law in abruptly ceasing their cooperation to the commission in facilitating today's election.

“As the police have abused the powers granted to them in the Police Act, and violated the purpose and spirit of the Act in their conduct, in clear contradiction of the law, we call upon all oversight bodies to investigate the matter,” the statement read.

The statement further read that the actions of the police had caused huge financial losses to the State, and accused the police of obstructing the commission from carrying out their constitutional duties.