Low voter turnout in Addu City referendum so far

Voter turnout has been low so far in the public referendum on forming separate island councils in Addu City’s Meedhoo, Hulhudhoo and Feydhoo.

Polling was scheduled to begin at 8:00 am. today but started about 10 minutes late at several stations in both Male' and Addu due to a lack of early voters.

According to the Elections Commission (EC), only 1661 people had cast their ballots by 12 pm, which is 17.35 percent of eligible voters. This includes 789 women and 872 men, leaving 7915 people, or 82.65 percent yet to vote.

There were heated debates across Addu City in the lead up to today’s referendum on whether to administratively separate Hulhudhoo, Meedhoo and Feydhoo from the Addu City Council and form individual island councils.

However, despite the discussions, polling stations appeared almost empty by noon. There were no queues and little visible enthusiasm among voters in the three islands, with only a handful of people casting their ballots.

A total of 9,576 voters are eligible to participate in the referendum, including 4,684 women and 4,892 men. Voting will continue until 4:00 pm. today.

There are 18 polling stations in total: three in Hulhudhoo, three in Meedhoo, five in Feydhoo, and seven in Male'.

Ballot boxes in Male' are placed at Kalaafaanu School.

EC said provisional results will be announced about 30 minutes after counting concludes.

The vote follows a decision by President Dr Mohamed Muizzu to hold a public referendum after some residents of Addu expressed interest in separating from the Addu City Council.

The President has said the government does not have a specific stance on the outcome but is acting on residents’ requests to determine their administrative future.