No referendum in Oct; EC says need more time
EC said it needed adequate time for public awareness, compilation of the voter registry and complaint mechanisms.
Despite earlier setting October 29 as the tentative date for holding a proposed public referendum on changing the system of governance from presidential to parliamentary, the date will be announced later as more time is needed to prepare for the vote, the Elections Commission has said in a letter to the parliament.
The Elections Commission sent a letter to parliament seeking clarifications on the referendum, saying it needed adequate time for public awareness, compilation of the voter registry and complaint mechanisms.
“Given the estimated time frame for all these matters, the earliest date for the polling will be communicated to your office later,” the Elections Commission said its letter, which was read out at the beginning of Tuesday's parliament sitting
During the debate on the letter, speaker Mohamed Nasheed said the Elections Commission's reply showed that it was impossible to hold a referendum on October 29. Therefore, he considers the date of the vote to be decided later, he said.
Parliament had in late September sent to the Elections Commission a resolution seeking a referendum on the system of governance in Maldives by October 30.
The Elections Commission has since requested the parliament to determine and provide the question to be asked of the people in the public referendum seeking views on changing the country's governance system.
Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, a long-time advocate of changing the existing presidential system to a parliamentary system, was set to submit a proposal to the parliament last week to determine the wording on the ballot paper to be used in the referendum on the governance system in Maldives, as well as a paper on the proposed system of governance.
The proposals will be debated later.
