Fuad: E-voting not important to Maldives, no trust with Commission

Former President of the Elections Commission (EC), Fuad Thaufeeq has said that the E-voting system, that is being attempted to introduce to the Maldives for the next Local Council Election, is not important for the country at the moment.

President of EC at the most competitive election in the country, Fuad, told Sun Media that the Commission has to be trusted fully if E-voting is to be introduced and that is why the system has been successful in other countries.

He said that the reason for introducing E-voting is due to the large voting population and such is not the case in the Maldives.

As the concept of E-voting looms, the oppositions have stated it is an attempted to commit fraud in the elections. Fuad said that machines can be misused on purpose or not.

Regarding the issue, Member of Elections Commission, Ahmed Akram said that E-voting cannot be hacked and it’s introduction would rebuild the people’s trust in the Commission.

The introduction of E-voting will lighten the budget on printing, Fuad said, but it is more important to regain the trust of the people. While the EC has said that E-voting will be used in the Local Council Election in January, Fuad said that the people need to be aware and accustomed to it and that is not being seen from the Commission.

Elections Commission Member, Akram said that awareness programs would be conducted across the country before the introduction of E-voting.