Twelve percent of the eligible voters cast their ballots within the first two hours after voting opened at 8 am on Saturday, the Elections Commission (EC) has stated.
ECn said 12 percent of the voters cast their ballots by 10 am. They were 22,403 males and 13,760 females, making a total of 36,163 voters.
Voters began queuing at polling station at 7:30 am with long queues and some delays reported at several locations.
A total of 574 polling stations have been set up with 176 in Male' region, 319 in the atolls, 65 in resorts, eight in different countries, five in prisons and one in industrial islands.
If there is no one in the queue, the polling stations will close at 4 pm and vote counting will begin 30 minutes later.
Some 282,395 people are eligible to vote in the presidential election, including 27,006 first time voters, according to the Elections Commission (EC) and a total of 285,219 ballot papers have been printed.
The winning candidate must secure above 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate wins a majority in the first round, a run-off will be held between the first- and second-placed candidates.
The second round if required will take place on September 30.
