The by-election voting to elect the President of the Dh. Meedhoo Council commenced this morning, following a High Court ruling that resulted in a tied vote after a recount.

The Elections Commission (EC) stated that the by-election for the Meedhoo Council President began at 8:00 AM today and that voting will continue until 4:00 PM this evening. The EC noted that an hour into the voting, only 12 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots. A total of 1,409 people are eligible to vote in this by-election.

In the local council elections held on the fourth of April, the candidates contesting for Meedhoo Council President were PNC candidate Suha Ibrahim, MDA candidate Mohamed Shahid, and independent candidate Ibrahim Naseem.

Initially, Suha received 393 votes, Shahid received 392 votes, and the independent candidate received 100 votes. However, a vote previously counted for Suha was invalidated after it was proven that an individual without voting rights had cast a ballot in the box kept at L. Fonadhoo. Consequently, with the two candidates tied, a recount of the Fonadhoo box gave the MDA candidate the Meedhoo Council President seat by a margin of just one vote.

Following this, Suha filed a case with the High Court claiming that two of her ballots were wrongly invalidated. Last month, the High Court ruled that one of those votes was valid. As this brought both candidates to a tie once again, the EC decided to hold a by-election.