EC fails to announce timeframe by end of working hours today

The Elections Commission (EC) mentioned yesterday that an election timeframe will be shared with the media today, but working hours has ended with no announcement by the commission in this regard.

During a press conference last night to announce their decision to hold the first round of the presidential election on 9 November, the officials of the Elections Commission said that a timeframe regarding the commission’s work and planned election-related activities will be shared with the media today.

Elections Commission Member Ali Mohamed Manik said that the same registry compiled for the election scheduled for 19 October will be used on 9 November.

“Due to the lack of time, for 9 November, we have decided to allow re-registration only by people who turn 18 or move to another location. We will do the same thing for 16 November. We won’t open re-registration for a second time. People who turn 18 or move to another location by 16 November can fill out one form,” he said.

He said that detailed information on re-registration will be published on the commission’s website today.

However thus far today, the commission has only published the list of eligible voters for 2013 and called for complaints regarding this list. The commission initially gave a 9-hour window to file complaints, but later extended the timeframe to include between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.

President of Elections Commission Fuad Thaufeeg said at the press conference last night, that the biggest challenge for the commission is lack of time, and that the election could not proceed last Saturday mainly because two candidates refused to sign the list because they were not given sufficient time.

“The main reason why we were unable to hold the election last Saturday, was refusal by two candidates to sign the list. […] It was not possible because the candidates did not sign the list, claiming that they were not given enough time to check the list,” he said.

When asked if the same problem will be faced this time, and how much time will be given for re-registration this time, Fuad said that a timeframe regarding the election process has been prepared, and that it will be shared with the media today.

Sun Online’s efforts to obtain a comment on the timeframe today have not been successful, as there is no answer on Elections Commission officials’ phones.