More than 200,000 people over the age of 18 are eligible to vote in coming election, according to a list of eligible voters published by the Elections Department last week. The list is available from the Commission's website elections.gov.mv. Deputy Commissioner of Elections Shaukath Ibrahim said this is a provisional list and the Commission has invited to contact their number 1414.
Shaukath did not say a date when the Presidential Election will be held., but he said they have published this list to give people time to make any corrections. There were complaints of repetitions, names of dead persons in the list the Commission prepared for the referendum on system of government last August. So the list which has been released now will be a provisional list for compiling a proper registry of the names of eligible voters. He said a final registry of voters will be published when the date for the presidential election is announced. The Deputy Commissioner said they will make every effort to ensure a free and fair election.
The upcoming presidential election is going to be very historic and exciting as it is the first multi-party election under the new Constitution which will be ratified by the President on Thursday, 7 August. The Constitution states a president has to be elected in accordance with the Constitution by 10 October 2008.
According to the new Constitution, a new independent Election Commission representing the political parties has to be decided by the People's Majlis in 30 days after the Constitution is ratified. The list of names from parties are reported to be ready and approving the new Commission and Supreme Court will be two major tasks the Majlis will have to complete before the proceedings of the presidential election starts.
This is the first time people over the age of 18 have been constitutionally allowed to vote hence this election will have a profound impact because of the young voters. International observers will be here to monitor the election.
Comments