About one-third of eligible voters had cast their ballots in the Hithadhoo North parliamentary by-election by 1pm.
Elections Commission (EC) said 1,344 voters had participated in the election by afternoon, representing roughly 33 percent of the electorate.
Of those who voted, 665 were women and 679 were men.
A total of 4,121 people are eligible to vote in the constituency, including 2,073 women and 2,048 men.
Polling began at 8am and is scheduled to continue until 4pm.
Five polling stations have been established at Hithadhoo School for voters in the constituency. Eligible voters residing in Male' can cast their ballots at two polling stations set up at Dharumavantha School.
The by-election is being contested by candidates from the ruling People's National Congress (PNC), Ahmed Saeed (Soda) and the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Abdulla Sodiq (Soabe).
The by-election was triggered after the seat became vacant following a Supreme Court ruling against former MP Sinaan in October 2024. The court found that Sinaan had failed to repay a MVR 2.5 million loan jointly obtained from an Islamic bank, resulting in the loss of his parliamentary seat.
Although Sinaan won the PNC primary for the by-election, the party said he chose not to contest in order to spend more time with his family. He subsequently relinquished the party's ticket to Saeed.
