The President of the Elections Commission (EC) Fuad Thaufeeq on Saturday stated that both opposition and ruling political parties were against introducing electronic voting systems despite multiple efforts to introduce them.
EC President Fuad stated this while speaking to local news following extremely low voter turnout at the Addu City, Hithadhoo Women’s Development Committee by-election last week. The Vice President of EC Ismail Habeeb stated that spending hundreds of thousands for elections with minimal voter turnout is a waste.
Thaufeeq highlighted that despite the initial cost to introduce an e-voting system, which would cost approximately the same as one physical election, it would be more cost-efficient in the long run since this is a process that is repeated multiple times.
Thaufeeq explained that the main reasons against introducing e-voting in the Maldives are due to lack of public awareness and the resulting distrust of the electronic system, absence of legal infrastructure to facilitate e-voting, and unpreparedness of political parties to accept change.
The EC President stated that the commission attempted to introduce e-voting systems during two administrations in 2008 and 2018, with the opposition of the years (DRP, Republican Party and MDP) rejecting on both occasions.
