The Elections Commission (EC) said on Saturday that 444 ballot boxes will be placed in the upcoming local council elections.
Out of the 444 ballot boxes, 132 will be placed in the capital Male’ City and 312 in the atolls, it said.
The vote, slated for January 14, will see the election of 651 members to island, atoll and city councils.
According to the commission, only 13 islands will have 5-member local councils as per the amendment to the Decetralisation Act approved in July last year, and only 3 councillors will be elected in each of the remaining islands in the election. In the previous local council elections, five members were elected to each island regardless of the population size.
Under the amendment, the number of members elected to each local council will be proportional to the population size of respective islands. The amendment slashed the number of island council members from 925 to 589, and atoll council members from 132 to 70.
The government says the amendment would save over MVR5 million every month on salaries and allowances.
According to the amendment, only 3 councillors will be elected to councils of each islands with a population of less than 3 thousand while islands with populations over 3 thousand will have 5-member councils. Meanwhile, one member will be elected to atoll councils from each electoral constituency in the atoll. One member from each electoral constituency will also be elected to city councils. Male’ City Council will have 13 members, while Addu City and Fuvahmulah City councils will have 7 and 3 members respectively.
The Elections Commission opened nominations for the election on the 27th of this month, and the deadline for filing nomination papers is the 15th of November.
Members from international and regional electoral bodies are expected to observe the election.