The Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has announced its decision to place ballot boxes in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the upcoming presidential election. It is the first time ballot boxes will be set up for Maldivians in the UAE.
ECM stated that over 150 individuals have registered to vote in Abu Dhabi. Moreover, ballot boxes will be placed in Trivandrum in India, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and London in the United Kingdom (UK). Initially, there were plans to have voting stations in eight countries. However, the count is lower because some countries did not meet the required number of registrations.
ECM stated that 65 resorts have decided to set up polling stations so far with more likely to be added in the coming days. ECM has also received more than 35,000 re-registration forms.
The presidential election is scheduled to be held on September 9 and a possible second round will be held on September 30. The eligible voting population for the presidential election is 282,672 voters and ECM has established its main headquarters for the election at Dharubaaruge' convention centre.