Transparency Maldives says polling well-managed

Election day administration was well managed by the Elections Commission (EC), Transparency Maldives (TM) said on Sunday.

Provisional results of Saturday's presidential election show main opposition PPM-PNC's Dr Mohamed Muizz leading the polls with 46%, while President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih secured 39%. 

To win outright, a candidate needs more than 50% of the votes. From the preliminary results, it is certain that a runoff between the top two contenders will take place on September 30.

TM observers were present at 311 polling stations – representing 56.86% of all ballot boxes. 

In its preliminary report issued on Sunday, TM’s observation found that the opening of the polls went smoothly, with 85.4% of polling stations open within the first 10 minutes of the official opening time. All EC officials were present at nearly all of the polling stations, and the materials required for voting were also made available. Candidates were well represented at polling stations.

"TM’s observation found that in general, election day processes went well. There was no concern of mass voter fraud, or any issues which could significantly affect an accurate vote count result. While the election day proceedings generally went well, there were on the day issues which were observed and reported by TM observers, as well as directly to TM via other stakeholder and the general public.

Following lobbying by political parties and candidate representatives at the National Advisory Committee, EC decided to change the layout of the polling station in the presidential election resulting in the open end of the voting booth to be placed in view of the room to ensure that voters would not be able to photograph the ballot paper, or cast an illegal vote by submitting more than one ballot per voter. The change in this layout was announced and gazetted by EC on September 5, four days before the election date.

According to EC, the guidelines upheld at the polling station are:

"However, TM observers noted that these rules were not consistently upheld within the polling station which led to the secrecy of votes being violated at some polling stations. While the layout of the polling stations was uniform, the difference in the size of spaces used as polling centres meant that some polling stations were arranged closer together, with observers, monitors, candidate representatives and other voters able to see the ballots being marked at the voting booth," the report read.

During the run up to the election, TM raised concerns regarding the continued abuse of state resources. Without a clear delineation between official duties and campaign activities, the incumbent administration could abuse state resources.

"Additionally, the scope and scale of development projects and socio-economic policies were changed during the campaign period, in a way which does not correspond to a sustainable development strategy, nor a long-term national development plan. All of this makes a level-playing field in terms of garnering support and campaigning difficult for other candidates," the report read.

TM called on the Elections Commission and other stakeholders to meaningfully address the challenges to ensuring the secrecy of vote and continue the efforts to increase public confidence in the election day proceedings.