More than 47,000 individuals have re-registered for the second round of the 2023 Presidential Election, to be held later this month.

The Elections Commission of Maldives (EC) revealed that 42,867 individuals had applied to re-register in the first round of the September polls, held on September 9.

Highlighting that more than 47,000 have re-registered for the second round, the commission revealed that over 19,000 of these forms were registered by Sunday.

In addition to this, EC is currently working to verify the authenticity of more than 27,000 applications.

The commission will be opening a window for complaints after publicizing the list of re-registered individuals as soon as the authenticity of said forms, is verified.

The list of re-registered individuals will be publicized in the government gazette, the EC website as well as by the parties representing both candidates.

According to EC, most of the applications were received from the parties representing both candidates.

The EC also noted that some of the applicants who had applied for online re-registration had re-applied physical forms as the application forms were pending.

EC opened the window for those who wished to re-register from 3pm September 15, to 4pm September 17. The commission established a portal to make the reregistration process easier. Alongside the portal, individuals were also allowed to submit their forms at secretariats of island councils, district offices in Addu and Fuvahmulah, as well as the secretariat of the Kulhudhuffushi City council. Applications were filed at the Election Center located in Dharubaaruge of capital Malé City as well.

Those eligible to cast their votes will be registered to cast their votes in the same polling booths as the first round, in the second round as well, unless they re-registered.

In order to check which polling station, one needs to visit to cast his or her ballot, individuals may send an SMS to 1414 after entering VR (space) ID number.

The registry of new voters for the upcoming second round of this year’s presidential election was publicized by EC on September 14. The list of additional voters who are eligible to cast their ballots for the second round was publicized by the commission the same day.

The list can be found on the government gazette, the official website of EC, secretariats of island councils in outlying atolls outside of the capital Malé region, secretariat of the Kulhudhuffushi City council and offices of districts of southernmost Addu and Fuvahmulah cities.

A total of 282,395 were eligible to vote in the first round. However, with the 408 new voters, a total of 282,807 are now eligible to vote in the second round.

Only about 80 percent of the eligible voters exercised their right to vote in the first round, making it the lowest voter turnout recorded in the country’s history in a presidential election.

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

The second round of voting in this year’s presidential election will take place from 8am to 5pm, on September 30.

Eight candidates competed in the first round.

According to provisional results announced by the commission, Malé City Mayor and candidate of the opposition coalition member People’s National Congress (PNC), Dr. Mohamed Muizzu leads the presidential race with 101,635 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 86,161 votes.

Coming in third is Ilyas Labeeb from MDP’s estranged leader Mohamed Nasheed’s ‘The Democrats’ with 15,839 votes.

Independent candidate Umar Naseer secured 6,343 votes, with Jumhooree Party’s candidate business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim having won 5,460 votes.

Candidate of the Maldives National Party (MNP) Mohamed Nazim trails behind with 1,907 votes and Faris Maumoon having secured 2,979 votes.

Independent candidate Hassan Zameel trails far behind with just 327 votes in his favor.