Voting in the second round of the presidential election will take place from 8 am to 5 pm, the Elections Commission (EC) has decided.
In the first round of the election last Saturday, voting took place until 4 pm. The turnout was 79 percent of the 282,395 eligible voters. It was a record-low turnout for a presidential election.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, EC Vice President Ismail Habeeb said the commission received complaints about having to wait in queues during the afternoon heat, which was why the decision was made to allow more time for voting in the second round.
“What we learned from observations we made and the advice of the advisory committee was that some people are unable to come out in the afternoon for health reasons because they’re taking medication for an illness. So it’s likely that voter turnout will increase,” he said.
Voting time was extended in previous elections on polling day but the commission did not allow it in this election.
Habeeb said voting time cannot be extended beyond 5 pm in the second round either. As voting time is announced in advance, voters should be prepared to go vote, he said.
“I would say very respectfully that unless we face a major natural disaster, it will go on until five o’clock. Even if a person tries to get in the queue after that, voting won’t be allowed,” Habeeb said.
The frontrunner in the first round, People's National Congress (PNC) presidential candidate Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, will face off against President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih as the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate in the run-off election.
Muizzu won 46 percent or 101,635 votes in the first round as President Solih trailed with 39 percent or 86,161 votes.
MP Ilyas Labeeb, the candidate of The Democrats - a new party formed by supporters of former President Mohamed Nasheed after leaving the MDP - came third with seven percent of the vote.
