Elections Commission (EC) has said that e-voting will be introduced in the next parliamentary and council elections.

EC member Akram said that their team is in Guangzhou to discuss with a South African firm on using e-voting after September’s presidential election.

The EC team in China consists of commission president Ahmed Shareef, members Ismail Habeeb and Akram as well as a senior employee at their IT department.

Akram said that they will also be travelling to India and the United States to see how e-voting is implemented in those countries. EC members previously travelled to South Korea.

Some have said that e-voting is unnecessary in Maldives where it is easy to count votes due to its low population and that the government’s real aim is to commit electoral fraud.

EC is also being condemned for declaring the dismissal of 12 opposition MPs, which some claim is not within the commission’s authority.