Over 100,000 people have cast their vote by 12pm on Saturday in the face-off of the 2023 Presidential Election in the Maldives.

Voting for the second round began at 9 a.m. across the country.

The Elections Commission (EC) revealed that by 12:00 p.m., the voter turnout was at 44.86% which makes up to 126,866 votes. This includes 61,343 women and 65,523 men.

282,395 people were eligible to vote in the first round of the presidential election, but only 75 percent of the voters turned out. That was the lowest percentage of eligible voters in a presidential election under the new constitution.

In previous presidential elections, more than 80 percent of the population turned out to vote. In the first election in 2008, 86.5 percent of the population voted. In the 2013 presidential election, 91.4 percent of the population voted, while in the 2018 presidential election, 89.2 percent of the population voted.

The total number of eligible voters in the second round of the presidential election is 282,803. They include 408 young people who turn 18 as of today. This includes 196 women and 212 men.

The Election Commission (EC) has extended the polling hours for the second round. The second round of voting is scheduled to close at 5:00 p.m. Counting of votes will begin after a 30-minute break.