Polls open in Male’ mayoral race

Polling in the city council by-elections opened on Saturday morning, as voters from the Maldivian capital elect Male’ City’s new mayor, and representatives to three additional seats at the council – the South Maafannu seat, Central Henveiru seat and South Henveiru seat.

Polls opened at 08:00 am and is set to close at 05:00 pm.

Five candidates are contesting for Male’ mayor. They are:

• Shuaib Ali, independent
• Hussain Waheed, independent
• Aishath Azima Shakoor, People’s National Congress (PNC)
• Adam Azim, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)
• Saif Fathih, the Democrats

Over 54,680 people are eligible vote in the elections.

Voters can check their registered polling center by sending an SMS with their national ID card and the keyword ‘VR’ to 1414.

The position of Male’ City mayor became vacant after President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu resigned to take office as the Maldivian president in November 2023.

Meanwhile, the three other seats at the council were vacated after councilors resigned to assume positions at the new administration. They are; Abdulla Nasir, who represented South Maafannu constituency; Adam Rameez, who represented Central Henveiru constituency; and Fathimath Shamnaz Ali Saleem, who represented South Henveiru constituency.