Maldives observed a record low voter turnout in Saturday’s presidential polls.

As such, only 219,843 voters turned out to cast their votes in the first round of this year’s presidential election.

A total of 282,395 were eligible to vote this time round, however, only 80 percent of the eligible voters exercised their right to vote.

Malé City Mayor and candidate of the opposition coalition member People’s National Congress (PNC), Dr. Mohamed Muizzu leads the presidential race with 101,180 votes in his favor, with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih who is aspiring to be re-elected for a second term through the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), came second with 85,935 votes.

Coming in third is Ilyas Labeeb from MDP’s estranged leader Mohamed Nasheed’s ‘The Democrats’ with 15,600 votes.

Independent candidate Umar Naseer secured 6,324 votes, with Jumhooree Party’s candidate business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim having won 5,610 votes.

Candidate of the Maldives National Party (MNP) Mohamed Nazim trails behind with 1,860 votes and Faris Maumoon having secured 2,993 votes.

Independent candidate Hassan Zameel trails far behind with just 341 votes in his favor.

In the 2018 Presidential Election, MDP secured 134,705 votes, with then-ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) having secured 96,052 votes.

PPM has secured 4,000 more votes during Saturday’s polls, than the last time.