How is the national electoral register created?
Maldives
ELECTIONS (GENERAL) ACT (Act No: 11/2008)
8(a) The Elections Commission shall prepare and maintain a register of electors.
(b) The Register specified in Subsection (a) shall be cited as the ‘‘Register of Electors’.
(c) The Register of electors shall have the following particulars pertaining to electors:
1. Full name
2. Date of birth
3. Gender
4. Permanent Address (including island and Atoll)
5. National Identification Card Number […]
“The Elections Commission has responsibility for preparing, maintaining and updating the voter register, as well as compiling the register of voters in each constituency, reviewing it in periods determined by law, and publishing the register in the official gazette. The EC is required to follow the existing legal framework for voter registration as well as the Supreme Court guidelines, as some of these relate to the registration of voters.
Voter registration consists of two phases. The initial phase is passive and is done by the EC where all voters are registered at their permanent address. The SC guidelines establish that the EC should use the database of the Department of National Registration (DNR). However, the guidelines establish no detailed procedures or deadlines, leaving the EC with a degree of uncertainty over the correct procedures to follow. As required by law, the EC updated the data received by the DNR and published the voter lists in the official gazette on 5 February for initial inspection. The Commission accepted 1,020 complaints, mostly regarding the omission of voters, the misspelling of names, incorrect addresses and the inclusion of deceased and underage voters. The amended voter lists were published on 18 February.”
The Election Commission uses the database of the Department of National Registration to compile the preliminary voter register and consequently updates the registry based on voter complaints.
