Sunday 14 Jun 2026
Voters cast their ballots in the Dh. Meedhoo council presidency rerun on June 13, 2026. (Photo/EC)
Constituents of Dh. Meedhoo headed to the polls again on Saturday, after the elections held in April to elect a president to the island’s local council ended in a tie.
The seat is being contested by Mohamed Shahid from the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) and Suha Ibrahim from the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC).
Polls opened at 08:00 am and will close at 04:00 pm.
The Elections Commission (EC) has installed three ballot boxes for the vote; two in Meedhoo, and one at the Dharumavantha School in Male’ City.
The local council elections took place on April 4.
The preliminary results initially released by the EC showed PNC’s Suha secured 393 votes for Meedhoo presidency, while MDA's Shahid trailed behind by just one vote with 392 votes.
But the MDA lodged a case with the EC after it was uncovered that an ineligible voter had cast their ballot at a polling station in L. Fonadhoo. PNC also asked for a recount, claiming that the votes Shahid received included an invalid ballot.
The members of EC’s complaints bureau unanimously agreed that the ballot in question was invalid, and decided to omit it from the vote count.
The EC conducted a recount, and announced MDA’s Shahid won the election by a margin of one vote.
Suha subsequently filed an appeal with the High Court, arguing that the mark that invalidated a ballot that was cast for her did not come from the ink of the pen that was used.
The High Court decided in her favor on May 14, and instructed the EC to revise the decisions based on the decision.
Th ruling tied Suha and Shahid, with 392 votes each.
The commission subsequently announced a rerun.
Total 1,049 people are eligible to vote in the rerun. This includes 566 men and 483 women.
Information shared by the commission shows 209 voters cast their ballots within the first two hours of polling – making for a turnout of 19.92 percent. The voters who have cast their ballots include 152 men and 57 women.
840 people – making for over 84 percent of eligible voters – have yet to cast their vote.
