President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has ratified the Amendment Bill to the Elections General Act. Ballot papers on which any writing or drawng other than the mark made to vote for a certain candidate, would be declared void, according to the new amendment.
The amendment passed by the parliament states, if any additional drawings except the check mark in the box of the desired candidate will be declared as a void vote. The amendment was proposed by Mohamed Shahid, a parliamentarian representing Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).
Following the ratification of the bill, the amendment has been published in the government gazette.
This comes just a day after Elections Commission voiced concerns about amendments being brought to the Elections General Act, with an election in the vicinity. In this regard, Spokesperson of the Elections Commissions Ahmed Akram called to put an end to amending laws related to elections just few days before the election is scheduled to take place.
Akram however did acknowledge that the amendment in question was crucial. He however said, if ratified it would have to be implemented for the April polls, which would in turn pose difficulties.