With less than three months to the presidential election, opposition parties have declared a loss of confidence in the Elections Commission (EC) and expressed concern over the fairness of the polls.
At a joint press conference on Sunday, five opposition parties shared a number of concerns. The parties were the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Maldives National Party (MNP) and the newly-formed The Democrats as well as the ruling coalition's Jumhooree Party (JP) and Maldives Reform Movement (MRM).
The harshest criticism of the EC came from Democrats founder and Henveiru Hulhangu MP Hassan Latheef. The criticism came after a case was filed at the civil court accusing the EC of stalling the party's registration.
Hassan Latheef expressed concern over the lack of confidence in the EC in light of the results of a survey conducted last year.
"A survey conducted towards the end of 2022 showed that 57 percent of the public do not have confidence in the Elections Commission. In contrast, 74 percent of people supported the Elections Commission in 2013, it was noted then," Hassan Latheef said.
He said there were many reasons for the loss of support for the EC.
MP Ahmed Shiyam, the PPM's vice president who represented the party, said it was the responsibility of commission members to maintain trust in the EC with the presidential election coming up. But the signs from the commission are causing despair, he said.
Alleging government influence over the EC, Shiyam said evidence of it was seen over the past two weeks. He also alleged misuse of state resources.
Kendhoo MP Ali Hussain, who represented the JP, said the EC was now only free and independent in name only.
The role of independent institutions was to impartially resolve disputes but the EC has been acting differently, he said.
"What we're seeing lately is some members of the Elections Commission working as government agents," Ali Hussain said.
Speaking on behalf of the MRM, former deputy minister of higher education Ismail Zabeeh called on the commission's president Fuwad Thowfeek to identify and reveal the problems that the EC faces in operating independently.
He also expressed concern over the EC's ability to responsibly maintain the registry of political parties.
"Now we're advocating on this directly in public. Now something very big has happened. Our party was dissolved. That's the problem," Zabeeh said, repeatedly expressing concern over the EC's maintenance of political party registries.
Criticising the government, MNP vice president and Vilimale' MP Ahmed Usham said the MDP had complained when it tried to come to power in 2018 that a free and fair election could not be held with then-EC president Ahmed Shareef.
Noting that Shareef was now with the government, he said those who infringed on the rights that the MDP pledged to secure were now in the front ranks of the government.
