Statement by Hon Bruce Golding, Chair, Commonwealth Observer Group, delivered at Traders Hotel in Malé, Maldives, on 19 March 2014
At the invitation of the Elections Commission of Maldives, Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma has constituted an Observer Group for the People’s Majlis (Parliamentary) Elections, to be held on 22 March 2014.
It is an honour and a privilege to lead this Group, and to be in Maldives at this important time, as the people exercise their fundamental right to express their will through the ballot box.
The seven-member Group is drawn from across the regions of the Commonwealth, and includes a range of expertise from political, electoral, legal and media fields.
The Group is charged with observing and evaluating the pre-election period, polling day itself, as well as the post-election period. It is our task as observers to consider all factors relating to the credibility of the electoral process as a whole.
We will assess whether the elections have been conducted according to the standards to which Maldives has committed itself, including both the Maldivian constitutional and legislative framework and relevant Commonwealth and international commitments.
In conducting our duties and undertaking our assessment, we will be objective, impartial and independent. The Group's assessment will be its own, and not that of any member country of the Commonwealth.
The Group arrived on 16 March and has spent the past few days meeting with relevant stakeholders, including the Elections Commission, political parties, independent institutions, civil society, and international partners.
Members of the Group will deploy to various atolls on 20 March to observe the campaign environment in those areas ahead of polling day as well as the voting and counting processes on election day itself.
An Interim Statement will be published soon after the elections. The Group will depart Maldives on 28 March after having completed its assessment, and a final report will be published shortly afterwards.
The Commonwealth has a long tradition of supporting Maldives in its own efforts to consolidate its democratic process. Commonwealth Observer Groups were present for the first multi-party elections in 2008 and 2009 and, most recently, for the Presidential Elections in 2013.
We hope that our Group’s presence will make a useful contribution to the further strengthening of democracy in Maldives. We encourage all citizens to play their part in ensuring that the country enjoys credible elections on 22 March.
