ECM to Complete Majority of Candidate Draws Today

President of the Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM), Mohamed Zahid, said that except for the Women’s Development Committees (WDCs) of two islands, the draws for candidates contesting the WDC and local council elections will be completed today.

Draws began at 10:00 a.m. at the ECM headquarters and are taking place simultaneously across the Maldives. Speaking to Public Service Media (PSM), Mohamed Zahid said the draw for the two remaining islands has been delayed due to ongoing court cases.

The Local Council and WDC elections will be held concurrently on 4 April. Once the draw process concludes, candidates may begin campaigning.

The ECM stated that candidates must attend the draw in person or appoint a representative. If appointing a representative, candidates must submit a letter providing the representative’s name, national identification number and a copy of their ID card. Representatives must also present their own ID card at the time of the draw. If a candidate neither attends nor appoints a representative, ECM staff will conduct the draw on their behalf.

A total of 2,994 candidates have applied to contest the local council elections scheduled for 4 April. The commission will announce the final list of eligible candidates on Saturday.

Six political parties are competing in this year’s elections. According to the ECM, 1,210 candidates are contesting on party tickets, while 401 are standing as independents.

Voters will elect 626 councillors to island councils and 52 councillors to city councils. Women’s Development Committees will elect an equal number of members. The ECM stated that 294,937 people are eligible to vote in this year’s elections.