The Ministry of Finance has officially allocated the budget for the upcoming second round of the presidential election.
Approximately USD3 million has been projected for the Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) for the execution of the second round of the presidential election. Some of this budget allocation was not utilised during the first round of the presidential election.
Hassan Zakariyya, the Secretary General of ECM, told PSM News that the electoral body had initially submitted a supplementary budget request of approximately USD1.6 million as USD1.4 million was left from the budget allocated to the first round. The request was intended to cover expenses related to election administration and various public awareness programmes.
However, after discussions with the finance ministry, an agreement was reached, resulting in an approved budget of approximately USD1.2 million. This amount is approximately USD500,000 less than what ECM had initially requested, bringing the total budget for the second round of the presidential election to around USD2.7 million.
The second round of the presidential election is scheduled for September 30.