EC to introduce online re-registration for presidential election
Fuad said a security audit of the portal would be carried out before it was made open to the public.
By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim,
Ahmed Naif
Elections Commission (EC) President Fuad Thaufeeq has said that the new measure to be introduced for this year's presidential election is to make re-registration online for voting in places other than where a person is registered.
In previous elections, people could only be re-registered after filling up a form and submitting it to the commission. This has led to widespread public complaints.
The EC has decided to open for re-registration for this year's elections from July 16 to August 5.
In an exclusive interview with Atoll Times on Wednesday, Fuad said that the commission prefers not to introduce new things ahead of the presidential election. As a reason, he said, people have faith in the existing system and if new things are introduced, there will be room for the public to question the election process.
Fuad, however, said that this time something new will be introduced by launching an online portal that allows people to re-register wherever they are. Thus:
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Re-registration through the portal will begin from zero
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Those who wish to cast their vote at a place other than the registered place will have to re-register even if they have already re-registered
"We are making arrangements for those working in boats, resorts and industrial islands to re-register themselves this time even at night when they are not busy with their work. You can also confirm through the portal that you have re-registered again," Fuad said.
He added that even if the re-registration is open online, those who are facing difficulty will be able to come to the elections and complete the re-registration even after filing their nomination papers. We will not close the opportunity, he said.
When asked what are the safety measures that will be put in place on the portal as people may carry out such activities like fraudulent registration at various places without the knowledge of the people in online re-registration, Fuad said:
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Re-registration can be done by uploading a live photo to the system
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ID card information and other information should be entered
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There will also be verification processes to access the portal
Fuad said a security audit of the portal would be carried out before it was made open to the public.
“We are already testing the portal with professional developers. We will also look into the security aspects and then only open the portal. There will be all of the same security measures in it," Fuad said.
He added that after online re-registration, complaints will also be opened to be made regarding the list, which is aimed to resolve the issues in the list. Fuad's assurance is that he will do everything possible to verify the voter list this time. He said efforts would be made to ensure that no one loses their right to vote without their names in the voters' list.
"Due to issues like the presence of names of dead people in the voters' list, we have already started working on getting the list of deceased people from the councils. More than any other time, this time we will conduct more checks and reviews of the voters' list," Fuad said.
