The Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) has stated that 26,454 individuals have re-registered for the upcoming local council and Women’s Development Committee (WDC) elections and the Public Referendum on the proposed concurrent Presidential and Parliamentary elections being held on fourth April..
The public referendum seeks public opinion on the proposed concurrent Presidential and parliamentary elections and redefined length of the parliamentary term.
The re-registration period was opened from 18th to 22nd February, allowing individuals to register for a ballot box outside of their island of residency. ECM has detailed that sufficient registrations were received to allocate ballot boxes to 21 resorts, but not for ballot boxes abroad.
Speaking on a PSM News programme, ECM Member, Hassan Zakariyya stated that 22,000 individuals re-registered in the first round of voting, making use of this opportunity similar to prior elections.
“Re-registrations for this election were open from the end of the parliamentary elections. Other than industrial zones, jails, resorts, and those living overseas, individuals would be registered to the place they were by the end of parliamentary elections. If we observe the total, over 90,000 would be voting from a place other than their residency.” Hassan Zakariyya added.
With six political parties competing in this election, 626 individuals will be elected to island councils, and 52 for city councils. An equal number of members will be elected to WDC.
In this election, 2960 candidates are competing, comprising of the following political parties: People’s National Congress, PNC, (1322), Maldivian Democratic Party, MDP (905), Jumhooree Party, JP (15), Maldives Developmental Alliance, MDA (57), Adhaalathu Party (9), and 644 independent candidates.
Eligible voters are at 294,937 individuals, consisting of 144,527 women and 150,410 men. The final list of eligible voters will be released after the re-registration period.