Allowances for electoral officials increased by up to MVR 2,100

Elections Commission (EC), on Thursday, announced an increase to the allowance which will be paid to electoral officials for the upcoming local council elections and women’s development committee elections, as it continues to face a shortage of electoral officials.

Electoral officials, who were previously scheduled to be paid within the range of MVR 500 to 1,800, will now be paid within the range of MVR 800 to 2,100.

Both the local council elections and the women’s development committee elections are scheduled to be held on April 4.

EC had announced it needs 6,386 electoral officials for the elections, and during a press conference last week, said it remained short of 2,340 electoral officials.

EC has desks open on the ground floor of Velana Building to process electoral official applications from 10 am to 3 pm this Thursday, and will have desks open at the Henveyru Artificial Beach to process applications from 4 pm to 10 pm on Friday.

Desks will also be open at the Social Center to process applications at the same time, said EC.

Those who wish to apply to work as electoral officials have been instructed to come with their national ID cards, and their applications will be filled by EC officials.

Several health experts and members of the general public have been urging the government to postpone the elections due to the emergence of the pandemic COVID-19 virus in Maldives.

Eight people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Maldives, all of whom are foreign nationals who were either working or vacationing in resort islands.

Though a decision regarding a possible postponement remains to be made, Vice Chairman of EC, Ahmed Akram, on Wednesday, said a decision would be made following discussions with the National Operations Center for COVID-19.