Elections Commission (EC) has decided to verify fingerprints on all 71,000 re-registration forms submitted for the 9 November presidential election.
Commission Vice President Ahmed Fayaz Hassan said the commission decided on Tuesday to try and verify as many fingerprints on re-registration forms as possible before election day.
“We will try to verify the fingerprints, as the parties have requested. But the greatest obstacle is the time constraint,” he said.
Fayaz said 41,000 forms have been forwarded to the Department of National Registration (DNR) on Tuesday night.
Jumhoory Party has said they will not sign the final voters’ list before fingerprints on all re-registration forms have been verified. Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has demanded for 6,000 forms to be checked, before they will sign the final voters’ list.
Fayaz said the commission is trying to accommodate the demands of the political parties as much as possible.
“We are trying to fulfill the demands of the political parties, even outside the guideline [issued by the Supreme Court], to hold elections on Saturday. They have also pledged their support, so we must work to meet their demands as much as possible,” Fayaz said.
Director of DNR Fareedha Yusuf confirmed that the EC forwarded the 41,000 forms, and said the forms have now been handed over to the police for verification.
Fareedha said the police have no indication of the time needed to verify the forms.