Voters will have to cast their ballots using black or blue in, during the upcoming presidential election, says the Elections Commission of Maldives.

This was revealed by the Vice President of the commission, Ismail Habeeb during a press conference held on Monday.

Habeeb revealed that a commission meeting was held with its legal team on Sunday, regarding complaints filed by some political parties linking alleged attempts to compromise confidentiality of voters.

He went on to note that election regulations and laws stipulate that voters can only carry ordinary pens with them, when going to cast their votes at polling stations.

During its meeting, the commission had decided that only a pen with black or blue ink can be deemed an “ordinary pen”.

Highlighting that a pen will be placed at polling stations, Habeeb noted that even though voters will be allowed to carry their own black or blue-inked pens to cast their ballots, it would be wiser to use the pens placed at the polling booths.

Stating that officials at polling stations will not accept pens with ink of any other color, Habeeb said that ballot papers with more than one check mark or scribblings and doodles will be marked invalid.

Further, Habeeb stressed that the commission believes there should be no compulsion on voters, and they should be able to cast their votes for the person they see fit, on their own free will.

The commission on August 31, began sending the materials required for the polls, to outlying atolls through commission officials with the assistance of Maldives Police Service (MPS). In addition to this, officers of the police institution in charge of maintaining security during the voting process, began departing for islands on August 30.

Candidates competing in the fast-approaching presidential election had completed the signing process for the final list of eligible voters by August 27.

The Elections Commission earlier disclosed that they received a total of 9,887 applications from the Maldives including with 4,545 monitors, 3,607 observers, 1,735 delegates on behalf of candidates, to observe the presidential election.

The commission revealed that a total of 282,395 individuals are eligible to vote in the September polls.

A total of 574 polling stations will be placed for the September polls including 176 in the capital Greater Malé Region, 384 in cities and atolls outside of the capital, six in industrial establishments and prison complexes as well as eight abroad. Vote boxes will be stationed across five countries abroad including Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, the United Kingdom and Abu Dhabi.

Two polling stations will be present in Sri Lanka, three in Malaysia and one each in India, Abu Dhabi and the UK.

This year’s presidential election, slated for September 9, will see eight candidates competing, including five from major political parties and three independent candidates.

Running for presidency this year are the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s candidate, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih aspiring to be re-elected for a second term, candidate of the People’s National Congress (PNC) Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, Ilyas Labeeb from The Democrats, Jumhooree Party’s Gasim Ibrahim and Mohamed Nazim running through Maldives National Party (MNP).

The independent candidates vying for presidency are Ahmed Faris Maumoon, Umar Naseer and Hassan Zameel.