Confidence in Electoral Process and Elected Officials Low, Survey Reveals

Public confidence in the electoral process, elected officials and their ability to affect change is low, a survey conducted by the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) ahead of the upcoming parliament elections has shown.

Only 68 percent out of 1174 people surveyed by the huma rights watchdog indicated their intention to vote in the parliamentary elections slated to take place on 21 April. 

advertisement

advertisement

advertisement

Historically, turnout in parliamentary elections has been low compared to presidential elections. The turnout in the 2019 Majlis election was 81.2 percent compared to the 89.2 percent in the preceding 2018 presidential election.

A staggering 82 percent of the respondents believe that misinformation being spread regarding the election prevents the electorate from choosing the best candidate. Journalists and broadcasters must pay special attention to deliver accurate information, the Commission cautioned in the survey report. 

The survey showed a need for institutional reforms, the commission noted, pointing to responses regarding the number of parliament seats and potential anti-defection measures. 

73 percent of the survey respondents believe that an MP elected on a party ticket or as an independent must lose their seat if they defect to another party. A majority of the respondents (68 percent) also believes that the current number of seats in the parliament needs to be reduced.

There is a split in opinion among men and women on how they perceive the representation of women in parliament and the challenges faced by women to run for office.  

73 percent of women surveyed believe more work needs to be done to increase women’s representation in parliament as opposed to 53 percent of men who held this position. 

These differences in opinion reflect a need to raise public awareness on gender equality, the Commission acknowledged.

Only 17 percent of people would support affirmative action to allocate women-only seats in parliament,

A majority of people (56 percent) also wanted to include a none of the above option on their ballots for voters to select if there is no satisfactory candidate for the constituency,

Interestingly, a majority of those surveyed (60 percent) believe that they should be able to vote for the constituency of their permanent address and not their current resident address.