A total of 10,028 people re-registered to vote in the April 21 parliamentary elections, the Elections Commission (EC) has said.

Of the 11,169 forms submitted by the 3 pm deadline yesterday, the EC approved 10,028 forms and rejected 1,141 forms.

Re-registration is required to vote in other countries, industrial islands and resorts in the Majlis election. Those who wish to vote in a place other than where they voted in last year's presidential election were also required to re-register.

"The number of people who re-registered is not low in proportion," EC Secretary General Hassan Zakariyya said.

Polling stations are to be set up overseas for this year's election in three countries. That is Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka. The EC decided not to set up polling stations in England, UAE and Thailand due to the low number of people who re-registered.

The EC decided to set up overseas polling stations if more than 150 people re-registered.

Number of people who re-registered to vote overseas

• Malaysia - 702
• Sri Lanka - 304
• India/Trivandrum - 159
• England - 124
• UAE - 31
• Thailand - 16

The polls to elect MPs for the 20th People's Majlis were initially scheduled for March 17. However, after the general elections law was amended to prohibit holding any elections during Ramadan, the EC rescheduled the polls.

A total of 386 candidates are contesting in this year's election for 93 constituencies, including 130 independent candidates as well as 22 female candidates and 216 male candidates contesting from political parties.

Unlike previous elections, none of the political parties has fielded candidates in all electoral constituencies. The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) fielded the most candidates with 90. The ruling People's National Congress (PNC) fielded 89 candidates.