One evident concern in the 2017 local council election, was low voter turnout.
In previous elections held in Maldives, a large majority of eligible voters took advantage of their right to vote. In the 2013 presidential elections, of the over 239 thousand eligible voters, 216 thousand 384 exercised their right to vote, which is is 90% of eligible voters. The elections, which witnessed the two largest political parties in the country go head to head, was won by ruling Progressive Party of Maldives. In the 2014 Parliamentary Elections, voter turnout was over 80%.
In the 2017 local council election which took place on Saturday, 250 thousand 84 eligible voters were supposed cast votes. However, after counting 306 out of 422 ballot boxes, or three fourth of the ballot boxes, it was observed that voter turnout was a mere 36%. If this is the case, we can safely assume that by the end of the vote counting process voter turnout would stand at just below 50%. This translates to less than half of eligible voters taking part in Saturday's polls. Therefore, although the elections is valid and although this would elect the local governments, one cannot interpret the political leanings of the voter community based on these results.
The votes counted so far show that ruling PPM has secured the majority seats in councils. However, MDP has secured the majority in city councils. Nevertheless the voter turnout in city councils were relatively low. In some administrative regions of Male' even 20% of eligible voters did not cast votes. Therefore, we cannot say that the results translate into political ideologies embraced by the citizens in general. As the local elections elect public officials that would be in closest proximity to citizens, many administrative regions saw voters discard party officials in favor of independents. So far, independents have won over 111 council seats.
The election does not seem to depict a clear picture of political leanings of the masses. All political parties should find the low voter turnout, a worrisome issue. All parties need to identify the reason for such a low voter turnout.