PROVISIONAL RESULTS ANNOUNCED IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

The Elections Commission of Maldives has announced provisional results of the elections to elect the President of the Maldives, for the next five years. Candidate of the Maldivian Democratic Party, Member of Parliament Honourable Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, won the election, having received 134,616 votes.

Candidate of the Progressive Party of the Maldives, incumbent President Abdulla Yameen Abdulla Gayoom, received 96,132 votes.

Of 262,135 eligible voters in this election, 233,877 voters cast their votes at the 472 ballot boxes placed in the Maldives and in four countries abroad. This is a voter turnout of 89.22 percent.

Voting proceeded smoothly, and peacefully, with no reported incidents. No major issues were reported in the vote counting process as well as with the voters list, which will affect the results.

Voting took place in the presence of a record number of representatives of candidates, observers and monitors. 945 representatives of candidates, 2610 local observers and international observers from 11 agencies, and 3329 local monitors and a number of international monitors are active in the election.

Official results will be announced within the next seven days, before 30 September 2018.

This was the third Presidential election held in the Maldives, following the adoption of the 2008 Constitution, which paved the way for multi-party democracy in the Maldives. The President and Vice-President, elected today, are expected to* be sworn in on 17 November 2018.