Habeeb: Invalid votes high as regulations were interpreted strictly, will be lower this time

Elections Commission (EC)’s Vice Chairperson Isamail Habeeb, on Tuesday, said invalid votes will not be as high in the upcoming parliamentary election slated for March 17^th as September’s presidential election.

Briefing the National Advisory Committee on the preparations underway for the parliamentary election – Habeeb said valid votes are accepted as valid votes, adding this was the purpose of the law existing.

He attributed the high number of invalid votes in recent elections as 2018’s amendment to the General Elections Act stipulating the ballot will be deemed invalid if it contains any other sign, drawing or writing apart from the checkmark, was inferred too strictly.

In this regard, he said the commission’s research showed that checkmarks lined over multiple times have been deemed invalid, because the article had been interpreted strictly.

“Commission’s research unveiled that some matters this way need to be amended. Hopefully, invalid votes will not be as high in this election,” he added.

A total of 12,723 votes were deemed invalid during both rounds of the last presidential election.

Tuesday’s meeting also saw discussions regarding polling hours. In this trajectory, the National Advisory Committee had recommended setting polling hours from 9:00am to 5:00pm, as the election falls on Ramadan.

They also recommended against extending polling hours any further in order to allow election officials to break their fast.

A total of 284,327 people are eligible to vote in the parliamentary election.