The Forum of Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FENBOSA) meeting planned for August will discuss the use of new technologies with the aim of improving the electoral process, the Elections Commission says.
The commission described the FENBOSA meeting as “very important” to the country, as it prepares to introduce e-voting in the Local Council Elections slated for January. The FENBOSA meeting is scheduled to be held from August 1 to 4.
According to the Election Commission, over 50 officials from regional electoral authorities are expected to participate in the forum. This is the first time Maldives is hosting a forum of FENBOSA. Maldives would chair the forum which would focus on the use of new technologies with the aim of improving the electoral process.
Regarding the introduction of e-voting in the coming elections, the commission said manual vote counting will be conducted despite the use of e-voting in the upcoming vote. It said e-voting will only be utilised in the vote counting process, as a bid to gain public trust in the system.