The elections commission (EC) has invited 15 countries to observe the September 9 presidential elections.
The commission’s vice president Ismail Habeeb tweeted that invitations were sent to the electoral bodies of 15 countries last week.
They are Georgia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, South Africa, Kyrgyzstan, Honduras, Sri Lanka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Australia, Jordan, Canada, Japan and Nepal.
Habeeb also announced that ballot boxes will be kept in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, the UK, Thailand, UAE and Japan if 150 voters register.
The EC earlier said the number of voters registered to each ballot box will be less compared to previous elections while the number of ballot boxes will be increased.
The commission’s Secretary General Hassan Zakariyya told Adhadhu that over 1000 voters registered at each ballot box in previous elections, but the number will be down to 800 this year.
“As a result, administrative aspects of vote counting will be more efficient leading to faster results. That is one of our biggest aims this year,” he stated.
In the last presidential election of 2018, a total of 472 ballot boxes were stationed all around the country. With the new changes, the number of ballot boxes will go up to 600.
Over 280,000 people are eligible to vote this year and the number of ballot boxes for capital Male’ city alone would increase greatly.
The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for September 9 and the run-off round will be held on September 30.
Candidates will get to submit applications from July 23 to August 3.
