Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has stated that the candidate numbers remain unchanged for the second round of the presidential election.
Eight candidates contested the presidential election, including five party candidates and three independent candidates. The second round of the presidential election is scheduled to be held after none of the candidates received 50% of the votes to win in the first round.
The People's National Congress (PNC) candidate Dr. Mohamed Muizzu led with 46% of the votes while President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is in second with 39%. The third most popular candidate received only 7% of the votes. As such, both candidates will move on to the second round of the presidential election with Dr. Muizzu retaining Candidate Number 4 and President Solih Candidate Number 3.
The second round is scheduled to be held on September 30. ECM will accept re-registration applications on September 16-17 and open the voters' list for complaints before publishing the final list. ECM has stated that 225,486 of the eligible voters had cast their ballots in the first round. This year's presidential election saw the least voter turnout in the country's history, with 79% of eligible voters casting their ballot.