Elections Commission (EC) announced on Monday that 80 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the parliamentary elections held last Saturday.
Speaking at the press conference prior to announcing the tentative results of the election, EC's President Ahmed Shareef stated that this is the highest voter turnout recorded for any parliamentary election up to date. A total of 105,077 females and 107,002 males voted in the election.
"They [two genders] are almost equal, the same amount of people voted."
Shareef stated that despite some minor complaints, voting proceeded smoothly. He further attributed this achievement to the involvement of various authorities, thanking Maldives Police Service for running security detail, media for raising awareness amongst the public and expressed gratitude towards election observers.
"I believe that this election has been noted for being so transparent due to the cooperation shown by Maldivian media", Shareef said.
Voting queues were thin when polling started at 0800 hrs on April 6. However, voter turnout increased during the afternoon, and Elections Commission extended the voting hours from 1600 hrs to 1800 hrs in the evening.
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