A majority of people want to add an option on ballot papers to reject all the candidates, a survey conducted by the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) has shown.
The survey conducted ahead of the parliamentary elections showed that 56 percent of respondents wanted to include a "none of the above" box on ballot papers.
While 30 percent of respondents said they did not want the option, 14 percent did not have an opinion on the matter.
The change was mainly supported by youth, the HRCM report stated. Of the respondents who wanted the change, 61 percent were youth, the report noted.
Moreover, the HRCM report noted the need for raising awareness on the issue as 14 percent of respondents could not answer either way.
How 'none of the above' works:
Of the countries that offer a "none of the above" option, some have parliamentary systems, including neighboring India and Sri Lanka as well as some European countries.
Some other countries have a proportional voting system, including countries with presidential systems, parliamentary systems and hybrid systems.
In a proportional system, voters rank the candidates in their order of preference. Voters rank candidates with one for their first choice, two for second choice and three for third choice. The candidate chosen as the first choice of most voters wins the election.
But the system ensures that the winning candidate has the support of at least 50 percent of voters. If 50 percent of voters did not rank one candidate as first choice, the second choice ranking would be considered. The second choice ranking would be counted after eliminating candidates who earned the fewest first choice rankings. If no candidate reaches 50 percent when the second choice ranking is added, the counting will continue to lower ranks. In most cases, a result is produced in the first round.
