Comment: Towards a free and peaceful poll

In turn, the nation’s top cop, Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz, has referred to the setting up of an all-party coordination committee at a high-level, to ensure that no untoward incidents happened before, during and after the polls. He has also underlined the fact that ensuring free, fair and peaceful polls is not the exclusive duty of the police force alone, and implied that political parties and the citizenry had a shared responsibility.

What both the EC and the police chief may have missed out is the possible need for all-party coordination committees of the kind at the island and atoll-levels. More importantly, there is a greater need for coordination between the police and the EC officials at all levels, if misunderstanding or mis-reporting of any kind is to be avoided, particularly during the crucial poll hours, leading to contradictory instructions flowing down the line.

Maybe, the two institutions together tasked with an onerous task should set up common control rooms in the national capital and all atoll headquarters, if not possible at the island-level. The latter would owe to lack of manpower and other resources. Yet, one can safely assume that the Maldivian Police Service (MPS) would be operating its control rooms at the atoll-level to full capacity, and could consider housing poll panel representatives, under the roof, with special communication links to the EC at Male and their subordinates and counterparts in the islands.