EC: E-voting not necessary for Maldives

An electronic voting system is not necessary for a country the size of Maldives, says Elections Commission (EC).

Speaking during a press conference this Tuesday afternoon, President of EC, Ahmed Shareef said the commission no longer considers using e-voting.

“We don’t find e-voting [or] making the whole process electronic is necessary for a small population such as Maldives,” said Shareef.

Shareef said that though the commission finds no need to make the whole voting process electronic, it is considering the pros of making certain processes such as re-registration electronic.

He said that an electronic re-registration process will cut down re-registration related complaints considerably.

“But as it happens, we don’t have some of the equipment needed to make the re-registration process electronic,” said Shareef, referring to the upcoming parliamentary elections.

He said that the legal proceedings after the presidential elections means there is no longer any time to make any of the processes for the upcoming parliamentary elections electronic.

Parliamentary Elections 2019 is scheduled for March.

Comments by Shareef this Tuesday is a complete U-turn from the commission’s previous attempts to introduce e-voting to Maldives. Both Shareef and his predecessor Fuad Thawfeeq had advocated introducing e-voting.