Elections Commission (EC) on Tuesday denied rumors accusing its members of seeking asylum in neighboring Sri Lanka.

EC’s Spokesperson Ahmed Akram, who is currently in Sri Lanka, responded to VNews’ inquiry stating that none of EC’s members have sought asylum from any country. Their travel to Sri Lanka was for various other reasons, he said.

EC’s vice president Ahmed Musthafa, and the three other members; Ismail Habeeb, Ahmed Akram and Ali Nashaath, are all currently in Sri Lanka.

Akram said EC members have been receiving various grave threats after the presidential election and this is the reason some members are currently in Sri Lanka. Noting that other members are there for various reasons, Akram said that they will never flee the country as there is no reason to do so.

He also said there is no reason to seek asylum or live abroad as they did not commit a crime or betray the country.

President Abdulla Yameen, too, alleged EC of being under influence and accused them of not being free. The senior heads of PPM, who had been mocking the opposition for their concerns, had showered the commission with praise prior to the election, changing their tune after poll results came in and they suffered defeat.

While the ruling party had very apparently influenced the presidential elections, the opposition had submitted complaints regarding it to EC, who addressed and solved many of the issues.

Those monitoring the elections this year had described it as a free and fair election with the least number of problems in history. The opposition presidential candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, received more than 38,000 votes to win the election.