At least 15 countries have been invited to observe the september presidential election, the Election Commission said on Monday.
The commission's Vice-President and spokesman, Ismail Habeeb, took to Twitter to release a list of countries invited to observe the election. The list includes:
- Georgia
- Philipines
- Indonesia
- Thailand
- South Korea
- South Africa
- Kyrgyztan
- Honduras
- Sri Lanka
- Bosnia
- Australia
- Kuwait
- Canada
- Japan
- Nepal
Ballot boxes will be set up in eight countries to vote in this year's election, if at least 150 people registered to vote in those countries.
As the presidential election to be open on July 23, political parties are gearing up and camaigning has already begun.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is contesting as mdp's presidential candidate, while president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has been given the ticket of the opposition PPM/PNC coalition.
While Jumhooree Party presidential candidate is Qasim Ibrahim, MNP has given ticket to Mohamed Nazim.
Mohamed Nasheed's The Democrats have announced that they will contest the elections and Umar Naseer has also announced that he will contest independently. The other independent candidate is former attorney general Dr. Mohamed Munavvaru.
This year election is expected to be competetive and number of eligible voters reach 283,000 plus.
