Voter turnout at historically low 79%
Zakariya said the low turnout in this election shows the extent to which the people are fed-up with politics and that they do not trust the process anymore.
By
Ahmed Naif
Just 79% of eligible voters are estimated to have voted in Saturday’s presidential election, the first time the turnout has fallen so low, the Election Commission (EC) has said.
With preliminary results now in, 223,860 out of the 282,395 voters cast their ballots.
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In 2008 when the Maldives held its first ever multi-party democratic election, 86.5% voter turnout was recorded
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In the 2013 presidential election, 91.4% of the eligible population voted
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89.2% of the eligible population voted in the 2018 election
Regarding the turnout on Saturday, Elections Commission Secretary General Zakariya said the low turnout in this election shows the extent to which the people are fed-up with politics and that they do not trust the process anymore.
"It shows that the people are losing interest in politics," Zakariya explained.
"This is a worryingly low number for a presidential election”.
