President rules out e-voting under Maldives 2.0 project

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has said the government's Maldives 2.0 digital transformation programme does not include plans to introduce electronic voting.

The government recently submitted two bills to the People's Majlis to establish the legal framework for the digitisation of public services. During parliamentary debate on the legislation, opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs alleged that the bills could be used to introduce electronic voting in future elections.

Responding to those claims during PSM's Nation Chat programme on Thursday night, President Muizzu said the Maldives 2.0 initiative does not include any proposal to change the country's voting system.

"This is absolutely not an effort to digitise voting. We have no plans under the Maldives 2.0 framework to change the way Maldivians cast their ballots to an e-voting system," the President said.

He rejected the opposition's allegations, saying they had no factual basis.

"The opposition has nothing of substance to offer the citizens. Their only strategy is to constantly lie, and I believe this rumour about an e-voting system is just another fabricated lie," he said.

President Muizzu said the primary objective of the Maldives 2.0 project is to reduce corruption by digitising and automating government services.

He said increasing automation would reduce human involvement in areas such as public procurement and service delivery, limiting opportunities for corruption.

"This is especially true for public procurement processes and everyday service delivery. As we automate these frameworks, the room for corruption will disappear," he said.

The President added that the project is also intended to improve access to government services and support the development of a digital economy, particularly by creating new economic opportunities for young people.

He said the government's digital transformation efforts had also supported the launch of PayPal services in the Maldives last week.