Date for the presidential election will be announced on January 15, says the Elections Commission (EC). However, Ismail Habeeb the Vice President of the EC sates that the election will be held in early September.

He says that it has been agreed that the first round will be held in early September, final details of the election timeline will be announced at a press conference to be held on the 15th January. These include the deadline for candidates to file their candidatures and the opening date for voter registration.

Vice President Habeeb also added that the EC will be preparing for a run-off round.

The Maldives Constitution states that, in case of a second round in the presidential election, runoff voting is required if no candidate manages to secure 50 percent plus one vote in the first round.

2018 Presidential elections were held in the Maldives on 23 September 2018. Incumbent president Abdulla Yameen of the Progressive Party of Maldives was seeking re-election for a second five-year term. His only challenger was Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party, who was nominated as the joint candidate of a coalition of opposition parties.

The result was a surprise victory for Solih, who received over 58% of the vote and was elected as the seventh President of the Maldives.

President Soih assumed office on 17 November 2018. Solih is the country’s third democratically elected president since Mohamed Nasheed’s victory over Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the 2008 elections which ended a 30-year one man rule.