The Elections Commission (EC) is looking into attempts to undermine the secrecy of the ballot in the September 9 election as alleged by the Progressive Party of Maldives-People's National Congress (PPM-PNC) and Maldives National Party (MNP).
EC Vice President Ismail Habeeb told Adhadhu that both the opposition PPM-PNC coalition and MNP submitted complaints about alleged efforts to rig the election.
"It will be proposed at a meeting and the commission will discuss it. They [PPM-PNC] asked for the issue to be put on the agenda of an advisory committee meeting. It will be on the agenda at the next meeting," he said.
The MNP's complaint letter sent to the EC was made public. Bosses of government companies have been telling employees to use a pen or marker of a particular color to vote, the party alleged.
"Employees of those companies are complaining that they are being forced to mark the ballot paper with a pen or marker of a particular color as instructed by senior officials of the companies," the MNP's complaint letter stated.
Some 282,395 people are eligible to vote in the presidential election, including 27,006 first time voters.
This year's election sees the highest number of candidates since the adoption of the new constitution in 2008. There were six candidates in 2008, four candidates in 2013 and two candidates in 2018.
