Final list of eligible voters to be publicized on Saturday

The Elections Commission has stated that they will be publicizing the final list of eligible voters for the upcoming Presidential Election.

EC states that the list will be publicized on the Elections Commission website and the government gazette.

Vice President of EC, Ismail Habeeb stated that the final list will be publicized after consideration of the complaints received during the complaint period.

Habeeb noted that changes will not be made to the final list of eligible voters unless ordered by a judicial court of the Maldives.

EC opened the reregistration process for the upcoming election on the 16th July. Online reregistration period expired on 02nd August and physical submissions expired on 05th August.

EC disclosed that 22,882 forms were submitted online during the re-registration period and 19,985 application forms were submitted to their centers.

A total of 35,849 forms have been re-registered. These included 18,088 online applications and 17,761 paper applications.

The Election Commission tried to set up ballot boxes in eight countries for the presidential election but only five countries had enough people re-registered by the time the re-registration deadline expired. The five countries are India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the UK and the UAE.

EC will be setting up 61 polling stations for voters native to the capital, Malé City and 77 polling stations for outlying atoll natives residing in the capital city.

In addition to this, six ballot boxes will be set up for Malé City natives residing in Hulhumalé Phase I and 16 ballot boxes will be placed for natives of outlying atolls residing in Hulhumalé Phase 2.

It has also been revealed that one ballot box will be set up for Malé City natives residing in Hulhumalé Phase II and 16 ballot boxes will be placed for natives of outlying atolls residing in Hulhumalé Phase II.

The commission is to set up six ballot boxes for Malé City natives residing in Villimalé, four polling stations for natives of outlying atolls residing in Villimalé.

Further, a total of 319 polling stations will be set up in outlying atolls, with the commission to establish 78 ballot boxes in resorts and two ballot boxes at Maafushi Prison complex.

One ballot box will be placed each, at Asseyri Jail, Hulhumalé Prison, Dhoonidhoo, Hulhulé and Thilafushi.

The commission has stated that the amount of total polling stations to be established will likely change after voter re-registration.

This year's Presidential Election is slated for 09 September and eight candidates have submitted their forms of candidacy. Five candidates from major political parties and three independent candidates.

A total of 282,755 people are eligible to vote in the election.