HPA to support elections ‘so long as they proceed according to law’

Spokesperson for the Health Emergency Operations Center Dr. Nazla Rafeeq has said that the Health Protection Agency (HPA) will provide their full support to the Elections Comission (EC) if the Local Council and Women's Development Committee (WDC) elections continue in accordance to amended legal provisions in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr. Nazla made the remarks while speaking at Thursday night's Covid-19 press briefing, highlighting that the elections could not be held according to the law in the current situation, and that the EC and HEOC had convened twice for discussions on how to best proceed with the election process. She further noted that the current state of public health emergency in place as per the Public Health Protection Act did not allow for elections to be conducted in the country.

However, Dr. Nazla expressed the HEOC's commitment to work with the EC in creating special Covid-19 related health and safety guidelines for the elections should the Provisions Act on Local Council Elections be amended to pave the way for election proceedings.

The council elections set to be held on 4 April 2020 were postponed through a special bill, ratified by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on 10th May 2020. The bill states that the Local Council Elections were being postponed due to the prevailing nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, and that the Council and WDC elections will take place one year after the bill’s ratification with the deadline for voting set for 9 May 2021.

The People's Majlis has scheduled an extraordinary parliamentary sitting on 13 January after discussions with the Elections Commission to pave way for the amendments to legislation required to host the Local Council and Women's Development Committee (WDC) elections within the required deadline.