Parliament unanimously approves Zahid, Salah’s EC appointment

Parliament, on Thursday, has unanimously approved the appointment of two individuals nominated for Elections Commission (EC) membership.

The two nominees are:

• Mohamed Zahid
• Abdul Rahman Salah Rasheed

Their appointment was approved unanimously by the Parliament in a 68-0 vote at Thursday’s extraordinary sitting. 

EC seats had become vacant after Ali Nashath and Mohamed Asif who had been serving as the corporation’s vice president and member respective, were dismissed by the Parliament in no-confidence votes in the face of serious allegations of misconduct including creating and selling fake membership applications to political parties.

Prior to this, Mohamed Zahid had served as the deputy president of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM). He was dismissed from the post in 2020. Zahid has also held the post of a member at HRCM and served as a deputy minister at the Gender Ministry.

Salah has served as EC’s secretary general prior to this. He has also held the post of Home Ministry’s permanent secretary.