Voting has begun for the second round of the presidential election.
Polling stations opened in Male' City and the atolls at 0800hrs and will close at 1700hrs. Voters began queuing up at the polling stations at around 0730hrs and the security envelopes were opened in the presence of the first two voters at the polling stations.
The polling stations will close at 1700hrs if there are no more voters left in the queue, and officials will begin counting the ballots 30 minutes after closing the polling stations. The Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has advised citizens to exercise their right to vote as early as possible.
A total of 282,804 individuals are eligible to cast their votes in the second round of the presidential election, including 409 new voters. Most of the eligible voters are in the 35-65 age group consisting of 143,609 voters, followed by the 18-35 age group consisting of 116,047 voters. The over 65 age group consists of 23,148 voters.
A total of 586 ballot boxes have been placed for the second round of the election, which is an increase compared to the 574 ballot boxes placed in the first round. The commission decided to place 11 additional ballot boxes in the Greater Male' Region, with a total of 187 ballot boxes. An additional ballot box has also been placed abroad, with a total of nine boxes in other countries, including Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, in Colombo in Sri Lanka, Trivandrum in India, London, in the United Kingdom (UK), and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Around 80% of eligible voters cast their ballot in the first round of the presidential election, which is the lowest voter turnout in the country's history. A second round became necessary as none of the candidates received 50% of the votes to win in the first round. The two candidates who moved on to the second round are Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, the candidate of the opposition People's National Congress (PNC), who received 46% in the first round and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the candidate of the main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), who received 39%.