Low voter turnout recorded in Sunday’s polls
22 އެޕްރީލު 2024 | ހޯމަ 11:09Only 75 percent of eligible voters came out to vote in this election
People queued up to cast their ballots in Sunday's parliamentary elections
The voter turnout for this year’s parliamentary elections, is seen to have dropped drastically.
Only 75 percent of the eligible voters had come out and exercised their right to vote in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, for the 20th tenure of the People’s Majlis.
A total of 284,663 individuals were eligible to vote in Sunday’s polls, out of which only 215,860 turned up to vote.
During the elections held in 2019 for the 19th tenure of parliament, 215,053 eligible voters turned up to cast their ballots, making up 81.3 percent of the eligible voters.
At a time the voter turnout for the parliamentary elections has seen a dip, the presidential elections held in 2023 also saw a decline in voter turnout.
As such, only 79 percent of eligible voters exercised their right to vote during the 2023 presidential polls.
The Elections Commission (EC) had on previous occasions expressed concern over the low voter turnout in the elections.
EC’s Vice President Hassan Zakariyya earlier stressed that it was a concerning issue and urged the public to jointly work to resolve it.
He also urged political parties to work to reach a solution on this matter.
Zakariyya added that a national-level study must be conducted to address the issue of low voter turnout and seek the reasons why people are so unwilling to turn up to cast their ballots.
He said that there would be a two-year period without elections after Sunday’s polls and added that the commission would launch efforts to conduct this study. He has sought cooperation from the public for these efforts.
