Male’, Maldives – Elections Commission has informed that ballot boxed for the upcoming local council elections will not be placed in 5 resorts as they do not meet the required registered amount.
EC has informed that while the time period for the re-registration for the local council elections has ended, there are several resorts that have not reached the required registered amount of people to place the ballot boxes. EC stated that they have decided to not place ballot boxes in these five resorts. They are:
- Kiha Maldives
- Palm Beach Island Resort and Spa
- Brennia Kottefaru
- Drift Thelu Veliga resort
- aaaVeee Natures Paradise Maldives
The Elections Commission has adviced the employees living in these five resorts to register again for the upcoming local council elections and Women’s Development Committees (WDC) once the registrations are open again.
Elections Commissions decision to not keep ballot boxes in these five resorts come while they have received an additional budget of MVR 29.8 million to be used for the upcoming local council elections.
The news was confirmed by the President of the Elections Commission, Ahmed Shareef, who detailed that the budget was received by the commission on Monday.
The decision to award EC with the additional budget was passed by the Parliament during last week, following concerns raised by the EC stating that the election would not be possible without additional funding, however, with the condition that this budget be utilized on a need only base.
The local council election, which was initially scheduled to be held during the April of 2020. However, with Covid-19 in the Maldives, the election had to be postponed multiple times, and has now been finally scheduled for the 10th of April, 2021.
