Presidential election scheduled for 7th September

Elections Commission has said that they have decided the date for the presidential election as the 7th of September 2013. Preparations to hold the elections now currently under way, said the commission.

Speaking to Sun today, President of the Elections Commission (EC) Fuad Thaufeeq said that the commission has decided to hold the first round of the presidential election on the 7th of September 2013 and that, if the consequent need arises, the second round of polling will take place on the 28th of September 2013. He said that even though a date has been determined by the commission, a formal announcement will be made 120 days prior to the election date, as specified by the constitution.

“It was decided to hold the first round of election on the 26th of August, but there are certain obstacles to holding the election on that date. The commission has now decided to hold the first round of election on the 7th of September. If a second round is to be held, it will be held in three weeks time. Even though we have decided a date for the presidential election to be held, the official announcement of the elections and the announcement for candidates to stand for elections will be made on 120 days prior to the date of polling,” Fuad said.

President Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has previously urged the EC to announce an election date as soon as possible.

A tweet made on the president’s personal twitter account said that he will work towards making this year’s presidential elections as free and fair as possible.

Even though EC has now said that they have commenced preparations for the elections, they have previously aired grievances of budgetary constraints for the elections.

Fuad has said that the commission will not be able to set up the elections unless they get more funding and that it is forecasted that the first and second rounds of elections will cost MVR55 million to MVR60 million. He said that they are currently working with all relevant authorities to come with the money.

“If we don’t get more money, we will not be able to hold even the first round of election. We spent MVR52 million on administrative costs and to conduct the bi-election alone last year. We have to bear these costs this year as well. We have to set up the presidential election and local council elections this year as too. So we are proceeding with the preparations of the presidential elections with hopes the state will provide the money,” said President of EC Fuad.

Elections Commission proposed a budget of MVR159 million for this year. They were granted an amount of MVR59 million.