President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has declared Sunday, October 1, 2023, a government holiday.

This announcement was made through an official statement issued by the President's Office, on Thursday.

President's Office disclosed that President Solih made the decision considering that Saturday, September 30, 2023, is the designated voting day of the second round for the 2023 Presidential Elections.

They noted that officials from government offices and institutions and members of the general public are anticipated to be engaged with assignments and tasks related to the election and voting process.

The President made the decision in response to a request submitted by the Elections Commission of the Maldives.

As the simple majority of votes required to form a government was not attained by any candidate, front runners Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih are heading for a run-off election.

The second round of voting in this year’s presidential election will take place from 8am to 5pm, on coming Saturday.

With 409 new voters, a total of 282,804 are eligible to vote in the second round.