Announcement of The Democrats first internal election delayed

The results of The Democrats' first internal election have been delayed and not yet announced. This marks the first instance in recent history in the Maldives where the results of an election have not been declared and have been delayed.

Voting took place from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday to elect individuals to various positions in The Democrats, which was established last July with the supporters of former President Mohamed Nasheed.

A total of 5,883 people were eligible to vote in the election. However, the number of voters who cast their ballots is not clear.

However, only a small number of people voted, and even twenty hours after the conclusion of the election, the results have not been declared. When the media began posing questions, The Democrats' official media group stated that provisional results would be announced sometime today.

Although individuals are elected to various positions within the party, the primary competition within The Democrats revolves around the position of party President.

Hassan Latheef, who previously served as the Chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), and Hussain Amru, the former Managing Director of State Trading Organization (STO) under former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, competed for the position of President of the party.

Despite the provisional results not being officially announced, Hassan Latheef, who is also the Member of Parliament for West Henveiru, declared last night that he was leading in the votes.

In a post on X, Hassan said that the result sheets of the ballot boxes indicated that he had won the election by a significant margin.

"Today marks a significant political movement across the country, and now the real has begun. I would like to extend my congratulations and gratitude to all members," he said.

Amru said on X that they had not declared any victory as they had not received the provisional results of the election.

Members of The Democrats have also expressed their concerns on social media regarding the delay.

The Elections Commission announce the provisional results of elections in the Maldives, where over 100,000 voters cast their ballots within six hours. This is also the same timeframe when the results of the previous internal elections of political parties were declared.