06 September 2013, Male'; The second multi-party Presidential election in the Maldives is scheduled to be held on Saturday, 7 September 2013. Polling will begin at 7:30am and would close at 4pm. The Elections Commission of the Maldives has announced that there are 239,593 eligible voters for this election.
There are four candidates contesting in the elections. They are: incumbent President Mohamed Waheed as an independent candidate, Qasim Ibrahim from the Jumhooree Party, Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayoom from the Progressive Party of the Maldives, and Mohamed Nasheed from the Maldivian Democratic Party.
The Elections Commission has announced that 470 ballot boxes will be placed for the elections. This includes 7 boxes that will be placed overseas. That is: 2 boxes in Colombo, Sri Lanka; 1 box in New Delhi and 1 box in Thiruvananthapuram, India; 1 box in Kuala Lumpur, 1 box in Malaysia; 1 box in London, UK; and 1 box in Singapore.
In order to ensure the credibility of the election, the Elections Commission and the Government have invited international observers and monitors from other countries and international organisations in addition to local observers. There will be a total of 2,328 observers out of which 102 are foreign observers from 19 countries and international organisations. They include observers from Australia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, USA, EU and the Commonwealth.
There will be 2,217 local observers from local NGOs such as Transparency Maldives and Maldives Democracy Network, political parties and independent commissions including the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives and Anti Corruption Commission. Additionally 1,660 monitors will also be active during the Elections including; 1,635 local monitors and 25 foreign monitors.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has established a hotline for emergencies and inquiries from the Government. The number is +9607794601.
As per the regulations, campaigning will end at 6pm on Friday, 6th September 2013.
ENDS.