The by election of the local councils of Thaa atoll Madifushi island and Shaiviyani atoll Komandoo island took place Saturday with ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) sweeping all three seats of the former.
The Elections Commission had decided to hold a by election in Komandoo as two candidates were tied with equal votes for the third seat on the island council during the Local Council Election. Meanwhile, the by election was held among the top four candidates for the Madifushi Island Council due to a complaint regarding an error in the ballot cast by one voter in Madifushi. As the top four candidates had received nearly an equal amount of votes each, the EC concluded that the error could have affected the final results.
The by election in Madifushi saw PPM sweep over 400 votes in total while main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) received 398. The by election in Komandoo were held between two candidates from MDP tied for the third chair, Ahmed Rifath and Mohamed Arif Ahmed. The third chair was won by Arif.
The by election was held only for these two constituencies. Meanwhile, the Elections Commission has published the official results of the Local Council Election which shows that MDP has won the majority of the City Councils and Island Councils as well.