The Government of Maldives has reacted to the report of European Union Electoral Follow-up Mission (EFM) that took place from January 8 to 11.
In a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government of Maldives sadly noted that while it had presented the progress of the implementation process since 2014, this was largely disregarded in the report.
The Maldivian government said it is working with the relevant stakeholders, to incorporate the recommendations made by the European Union Elections Observation Mission of 2014, as conveyed to the European Union Electoral Follow-up Mission (EFM) team in January.
As such, a draft bill consisting of the changes being brought to the electoral framework has been formulated, in accordance with the constitution of Maldives.
The statement noted the draft bill will aim to establish clear demarcations of functions between the Elections Commission, Anti-corruption Commission, Prosecutor General's Office and the Maldives Police Service, as well as incorporate the 16-pointer guideline issued by the Supreme Court of Maldives in 2013, pertaining to voter registration. The draft bill also addresses election offences and proposes to penalize additional offences related to elections.
Additionally, the bill sets forth specific timelines for registration and re-registration of voters, and for the Elections Commission to publicise the voters list. It will further propose guidelines to ensure that the campaign finances are accounted for and are in the interest of allowing a fair campaign ground for all candidates and establish guidelines to be followed by media in allocating campaign time slots.
Furthermore, the statement highlighted the religion of Maldives is Islam and Islam shall be the basis of all the laws of the Maldives. Therefore, as reiterated on a number of occasions, the government said it will not entertain any recommendation calling for the review or the revision of Article 9 and Article 73 of the constitution. The Maldivian government further noted with concern the report contains misconstrued facts with regard to the February 1 order of the Supreme Court and the report has failed to take into consideration the events that followed.
The Elections Commission, on February 22 has begun the preparations for the Presidential Election to be held this year. The Government encourages all relevant stakeholders to offer the Elections Commission the full, unreserved support for the conduct of the work. The Government also reiterated its public call for all international stakeholders to observe the electoral process.