The Elections Commission (EC) has assured that application forms will be verified after 25,000 people registered over the past two days to vote elsewhere in the second round of the presidential election.
The assurance came after People's National Congress (PNC) presidential candidate Dr. Mohamed Muizzu expressed concern over the mass re-registration in two days and called on parties, international monitors and observers to look into the process.
EC Vice President Ismail Habeeb told Adhadhu that the verification process is ongoing with 15,000 forms pending. Voters would only be re-registered after verification, he said.
"Most forms submitted online are pending. There will be a real-time photo on it as well. If a form is wrong, it will be rejected. Our officials are contacting the numbers on physical forms for verification," he said.
Habeeb suggested that the low turnout in the first round could be a reason for the high number of re-registration requests.
"About 60,000 people did not come out to vote in the first round. That would include people out of the country as well. It could be that most people who are re-registering are those among them who want to vote in the second round. That is a very good thing," he said.
The turnout of 80 percent in the first round on September 9 was a record low for a presidential election in the Maldives.
Habeeb noted further that changes to the voter lists will be shared with political parties and that the EC will invite complaints. He urged all voters to check their place of registration.
Of those who applied to re-register for the second round, 10,271 people have been registered to date, Habeeb said.
"For various reasons, 1,546 forms have been rejected so far. Forms are rejected when the information required is incomplete," Habeeb said.
A total of 25,493 people applied for re-registration over the weekend, including 18,349 people who submitted applications online.
The deadline for re-registration to vote in the second round is 4 pm on Sunday.
Anas Abdul Sattar, spokesman of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said the ruling party has trust and complete confidence in the EC's verification process.
"They [EC] are saying that they will call the person who submits the form. A photo has to be taken when forms are submitted online. A message is sent," he said.
The re-registration of a large number of people to vote is a success, Anas said.
