Members of the Elections Commission of the Maldives (EC) received numerous death threats after results of Sunday’s ballots were announced, commission president Ahmed Shareef has said.

Shareef said this at a press conference on Saturday to announce final results of the ballots that he and colleagues had expected such threats.

“We were ready to face it, we knew that people were going to blame the organizing body once whoever they voted for lost, without thinking too much about it”, Shareef said.

Shareef, a known supporter of incumbent President Abdulla Yameen, said that the EC has not yet had to face any danger as a result of the threats.

EC president Shareef further said that he faced accusations of prejudice before the elections, and has been accused of accepting bribes now that the results have been announced.

EC said that they will pursue legal action against individuals that slander them.