North Hithadhoo By-Election Underway as Voter Turnout Nears 20% in First Three Hours

Voters began casting their ballots this morning in the parliamentary by-election to fill the vacant constituency seat for North Hithadhoo, with voter turnout reaching 19.29 per cent by 11:00am, according to the Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM).

Polling opened at 8:00am and will continue until 4:00pm. Official figures released by the ECM show that 795 voters had cast their ballots within the first three hours of voting.

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Turnout stood at 12.86 per cent by 10:00am, when 530 voters had participated in the election. Of those, 242 were men and 288 were women.

By 11:00am, the number of ballots cast had increased by 265, bringing the total to 795 votes. The latest figures show that 386 men and 409 women had voted.

A total of 4,121 people are eligible to vote in the by-election, including 2,073 men and 2,048 women. As of 11:00am, 3,326 registered voters, or 80.71 per cent of the electorate, had yet to cast their ballots.

The ECM has stated that voting has been proceeding smoothly without significant disruptions and urged eligible voters to vote before polling stations close.

Seven ballot boxes are being used for the election, with five located in Addu City and two in Malé for voters residing in the capital.

Two candidates are contesting the seat: Ahmed Saeed of the People’s National Congress (PNC) and Abdulla Sodiq of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

The North Hithadhoo seat became vacant following a ruling by the Supreme Court involving former MP Mohamed Sinan. Sinan, who was elected in 2024, lost his parliamentary seat after being found to have failed to settle an outstanding debt in accordance with a court judgment.