The Elections Commission (EC) has rejected any possibility that the identities of deceased citizens could be used to fraudulently vote in the upcoming election, despite opposition allegations that security forces were seeking to influence polling by misusing such data. The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has continued to accuse both the government and senior police officials of trying to undermine free and fair elections, alleging the institution was actively seeking deceased lists detailing the country’s deceased in an attempts to try and rig voting. Rejecting any allegations that figures within the institution were seeking to rig polling, the Maldives Police Service (MPS) today confirmed it has been seeking a list detailing deceased peoples from across the Maldives as part of an investigation into allegations of fraudulent party membership.
The police service last month last month claimed of having experienced “difficulties” investigating 47 cases of fraudulent political party enlistment, with “no way” to hold the respective political parties accountable.
EC Vice President Ahmed Fayaz confirmed that the commission had officially asked the police to investigate allegations that certain political parties had previously attempted to register the deceased as party members over fears of registration fraud.
“There were concerns that parties were using details of the deceased to register,” he said. “We therefore asked police to look into the issue as we did have some forms filled in by people who were already deceased.”
Full Article: EC dismisses possibility of electoral fraud using deceased voter details | Minivan News.
