Voting has begun in the by-election held today to elect the Mayor of Male' City and three other Councillors to the Male' City Council.
Initially, the Elections Commission decided to hold the voting from 08:00 am to 04:00 pm today but the relentless rain in Male' and subsequent flooding in most parts of Male' forced the Electoral watchdog to extend voting till 05:00 pm.
Around 54,680 voters are eligible to vote in today's by-election with major parties vying for the vacant mayor post of Male' City.
Former Attorney General Azima Shakoor is competing for the Mayorship from the ruling PNC while former CEO of MTCC Adam Azim is competing for the opposition MDP.
From the democrats, current Councillor for Galolhu North Constituency Saif Fathih is competing for the Mayorship while Independent Candidates former CP Hussain Waheed and Shuaib Ali are also vying for the mayorship.
Today's by-election will also see seats filled for Maafannnu South, Henveiru North, Henveiru Central on the council as the former Councillors moved on to government jobs after previous Mayor Dr Mohamed Muizzu won the last Presidential Election and went on to become the 8th President of the Maldives.
