STORY: Maldivians vote in presidential runoff
DATELINE: Sept. 30, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:20
LOCATION: Colombo
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of polling stations

STORYLINE:

The second round of presidential election in the Maldives concluded on Saturday, after no candidate secured more than 50 percent of votes in the first round to win outright.

The runoff election featured a head-to-head contest between incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and People's National Congress coalition's candidate Mohamed Muizzu, who is also the mayor of capital city Male.

According to the Election Commission, a total of over 282,000 people are eligible to participate in the voting to choose the Indian Ocean archipelagic country's president with a five-year term.

Voting started at 8 a.m. and concluded at 5 p.m. local time on Saturday, with 586 ballot boxes being set up for the election.

Muizzu secured more than 46 percent of the votes, while Solih followed behind with 39 percent in the first round of the presidential election held on Sept. 9.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Colombo.
(XHTV)