Foreign observers impressed with election arrangements

Foreign observers have praised the voting arrangements made by the Elections Commission (EC) for the this year's parliamentary election.

A total of 19 international observers from nine different countries visited the Maldives to observe the election for the 20th parliament assembly. The observer groups consisted of elections commissioners and chief elections commissioners of the foreign countries.

The chair of the foreign observers team spoke with the local media, noting they monitored the elections by splitting the team into four groups.

The observers team chair also highlighted peaceful proceedings across the all polling stations from commencement until the end, and singled out the installation of fans for voters in waiting areas.

"It is delightful to see that 90% of the elections officials were women. Vote counting had begun almost immediately after polling closed, which too proceeded peacefully," the observers team chair commented.

Besides this, majority of the observers had praised the use of technological equipment in the voting as well. Nelson Sallis, the election monitor from the Philippines highlighted the voter's details could be accessed promptly using the tablets used by the officials, which allowed voters to cast the ballots faster.

"This was an exemplary usage of technology by the Maldives Elections Commission," Nelson said.

 The monitors unanimously singled out the lack of any notable confrontations or commotions at the polling stations during the election, and praised the Elections Commission for it.