The Elections Commission has opened the window for those who wish to re-register for the second round of the 2023 Presidential Election, to be held later this month.

According to EC, a very short period of three days will be given for re-registration for those who want to change the place of voting.

EC has allocated the reregistration period from 3pm Friday to 4pm Sunday.

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-register.

Those who wish to change the location they have to go to vote may do so during this period, by submitting an application either online or by visiting the Election Centre.

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 commission has established a portal to make the reregistration process easier for those who wish to do so.

Alongside the portal, individuals may also 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 may be filed at the Election Center located in Dharubaaruge of capital Malé City as well.

EC revealed that application forms have been made available at council secretariats as well as the EC website.

The commission went on to reveal that they will not be accepting applications that are sent via email, or directly to the commission.

An individual will be allowed to submit a maximum of 10 applications to reregister. A political party or any other such institution will be permitted to submit 100 forms with their marks on the form along with an official letter.

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

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.

Complaints may be submitted from 8:30am to 3pm on working days, from 9am to 3pm on holidays and from 3pm to 5pm on Friday.

A total of 282,395 were eligible to vote this time 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.