Civil Court protects ballot secrecy in JSC lawyer election
23 Jul 2014, 3:47 PM
Zaheena Rasheed
The Civil Court has ruled against setting up polling mechanisms on every inhabited island to elect a representative from the legal community to the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), arguing the move would violate the secrecy of the ballot.
A regulation compiled by Attorney General (AG) Mohamed Anil states ballot boxes can only be placed in islands where more than five lawyers are registered to vote. However, Gaaf Dhaal Fiyori Island Magistrate Abdul Razzak Mohamed asked the court to annul the requirement and asked for a voting mechanism to be established on every island.
An estimated 700 lawyers are eligible to vote in the election. These include 136 magistrates stationed throughout the Maldives.
Judge Ali Rasheed Hussein on Tuesday said the regulations require the vote to be by secret ballot and said voting mechanisms on every island, where only one lawyer casts the vote, would compromise secrecy.
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