More than 1,000 people have cast their ballots in the by-election being held to fill the vacant People's Majlis seat for the Addu City Hithadhoo North constituency.

The by-election for the Hithadhoo North constituency was triggered following a Supreme Court verdict that declared the seat vacant. This came after the Supreme Court ruled that the constituency's MP at the time, Mohamed Sinan, had an outstanding proven debt, thereby disqualifying him from his seat.

Voting for the by-election commenced at 8:00 AM today. Five ballot boxes have been set up in Addu City, while two ballot boxes have been placed in Malé.

The Elections Commission stated that 1,080 people had voted as of 12:00 PM today, representing 29 percent of the total voter turnout so far. This includes 529 women and 551 men.

Meanwhile, the remaining 73 percent of eligible voters, amounting to 3,041 people, have yet to cast their votes. A total of 4,121 individuals are eligible to vote in this election.

In Malé, voting is being conducted at Dharumavantha School, while in Addu, polling is underway at Hithadhoo School. Voting is scheduled to continue until 4:00 PM this evening.

Two candidates are contesting in this by-election: Ahmed Saeed (Soda) from the ruling People's National Congress (PNC), and the former Mayor of Addu City, Abdulla Sodiq (Sobe), from the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).