The Elections Commission denied allegations of registration fraud as lots were drawn Saturday to assign candidate numbers for the September 23 election. President Abdulla Yameen will be candidate number one and joint opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih will be number two on the ballot paper. Tourism Minister Moosa Zameer and lawyer Hisaan Hussain drew lots on their behalf. Speaking at the ceremony, EC chief Ahmed Shareef denied fraudulent registration of people who did not seek to vote outside their island of permanent residence. It emerged last week that several people – including at least 87 from Gaaf Alif Villigili and 22 from Kolamaafushi – were re-registered elsewhere despite not applying. Some people were registered to vote in Sri Lanka and England.
“Unless a form was submitted for re-registration, we have not registered that form,” Shareef said. “If there was fraud, it was done by the people who submitted the form, political parties or those who came with the forms.”
The verification process has been completed and re-registration details will be revealed next week, he added.
“We know who submitted the forms, we have the fingerprint of the person who submitted, which party it was, and the address of the person,” he said. He vowed to seek criminal prosecutions over the fraudulent applications.
Full Article: Maldives election body denies voter registration fraud – Maldives Independent.