Final voters registry published

The Elections Commission published Tuesday night the final registry of voters for the September 23 presidential election.

The revised list includes name, address and identity card number as well as details of ballot boxes where people have to vote. Nearly 80,000 people re-registered to vote outside their island of permanent residence.

The EC previously rejected 5,626 re-registration applications because police were unable to verify fingerprints. It is unclear how many of those resubmitted forms during a three-day period in late August.

The commission also gave the same three-day period to submit complaints about the list.

Some 262,135 people are eligible to vote this year.

The five-member electoral commission, led by a loyalist of the president, has been at loggerheads with the opposition, which alleges collusion and fraud to favour the incumbent.

But the EC denies the allegations and assures that the voting process would be exactly the same as in past elections.

On Tuesday night, joint opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ‘Ibu’ said he would only sign the voter lists after a thorough verification check. The candidate’s signature on the lists was a requirement imposed by the Supreme Court during the 2013 election.

Citing overwhelming support, Ibu declared that the public would prevail over undue influence on the EC and efforts to rig the election.