No reason to recount vote boxes from Dhuvaafaru: Elections Commission

The Elections Commission (EC) has stated there is no reason to accept the request submitted for a recount of vote boxes placed in Raa atoll Dhuvaafaru for the parliamentary elections held on Sunday.

EC's Complaints Bureau received a request to recount the ballot boxes placed in the Dhuvaafaru constituency of Raa Atoll after the ruling People's National Congress (PNC) candidate for the 20th parliament Mohamed Ali won the election by a short margin of just four votes. He was elected to the seat by 1,074 votes cast in his favor.

An independent candidate named Ibrahim Abdul Rahman contested closely behind PNC's Mohamed Ali and secured 1,070 votes during the elections held to elect MPs to the 20th parliament. Provisional results also show that 41 votes were counted as invalid ballots in the constituency.

The independent candidate Ibrahim Abdul Rahman filed a request with EC's Complaints Bureau asking for a recount of ballot boxes in Dhuvaafaru. However, EC member Hassan Zakariyya told "Mihaaru" news that the commission has decided there is no reason to recount the ballot boxes after discussion among the commission's members.

Hassan Zakariyya stated on Thursday that the EC would be taking steps to formally inform the parties involved regarding the commission's decision to not conduct a recount for ballot boxes that were placed in Dhuvaafaru for the parliamentary elections held earlier this week.

EC member Hassan Zakariyya had commented on the case earlier as well, stating that the commission had not been made aware of any clashes in the constituency that could have disrupted the polling process on elections day or changed the results.

A request for recount was also submitted from the South Thinadhoo constituency earlier. However, the EC has declined to recount the boxes from that constituency as well, citing a lack of plausible reason to do so.