Gasim criticises Elections Commission

Leader of Jumhooree Party (JP) Gasim Ibrahim has said that the Elections Commission (EC) does not have the authority to reject application forms of people wishing to join political parties by citing unclear fingerprints as an excuse.

Gasim said while speaking at a ceremony held at JP last night to welcome new members to the party, that the regulation on political parties does not stipulate that fingerprints should be included in application forms.

He said that since it was made obligatory to include fingerprints in the application forms, it seems that “EC is hardly able to accept any forms at all”.

Gasim said that making it obligatory to include fingerprints on application forms obstructs a fundamental right.

“They [EC] don’t have the capability to take fingerprints. There is no legal capacity for us to be required to give fingerprints,” Gasim said.

Gasim highlighted that the time lapse is too long, between the form being submitted to EC and people being included in the party registry.

“When we send the form to them [EC], we have to wait 15 days, or one month, or even two months. What are they doing? There is no guarantee. I wonder if they aren’t making photocopies and giving it to someone else. Much later after we lose all confidence, they send the form back saying the fingerprint is unclear,” he said.

Gasim said that JP will file a case to Court if EC continues to reject forms based on the quality of fingerprints.

EC has been criticised also by the Vice President of JP for its policy on rejecting application forms based on fingerprints.

He has said that it “does not make sense” to reject forms based on fingerprints, and that the Commission is not clear on its reasons for rejecting forms.

It was not possible to contact EC on this matter at press time.

More than 100 application forms were received by JP last night.