Figures dispute opposition claims of polling extension for vote rigging

The main complaint of the opposition PPM-PNC and the Maldives National Party (MNP) regarding the by-election to Guraidhoo constituency held on Saturday was that polling was extended by an hour till 5pm. 

The opposition has been pointing the finger at the Election Commission (EC) by claiming that MDP unfairly won the Guraidhoo seat, which had always been controlled by the opposition. According to party leaders, the EC had extended the time to allow more time to bring out MDP members to cast their votes as they know that the party will lose the election.

However, do official figures back these claims? 

The EC announced the extension of voting time at 3.54pm, six minutes before the initial deadline to conduct voting. 

According to EC data, 2,672 people or 78% of the eligible voters had cast their votes till 4pm.

According to the result sheet released by the Election Commission, a total of 2,755 people or 80.48% of the eligible voters exercised their rights in the entire election. Within the extended hour of voting time, only 83 voters cast their votes. 

According to the provisional results, MDP's Ibrahim Shaz won the election by a margin of 120 votes over his nearest rival Ibrahim Riza of PPM. Even if the total number of people who voted in extra time is removed, the numbers suggest that Shaz will have won the election. 

According to the EC, the extension of polling time was necessitated as it was difficult for voters to go out to cast their votes due to inclement weather and heavy rains. The commission has adopted similar extensions in several previous elections.

Meanwhile, MNP Vice President Ahmed Usham expressed his views on the matter.

His concern is that the EC has not followed procedures while extending the voting time. Citing an example, he said that in an election held a few days ago in Villimale, the ferry was stopped for an hour due to bad weather, but the EC objected to the extension of voting time on that day. Usham proposes to introduce a stricter set of rules to allow extension of voting time. 

"Instead of increasing the voting hours in elections as and when required by the commission members, it is important that the circumstances under which this can be done are reflected in writing. Now, there are no uniform rules in doing so," the Villimale MP said.