8 October 2008 is going to be a historic day for the Maldives, our very first multi-party presidential elections are scheduled for that day.

Nominations for the presidential candidates are already open from today and it will close on 21 September.

According to the President of the Elections Commission, Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim, the voting will begin at 9:00am and end at 8:00pm. The counting of the votes will begin an hour later and results of the elections will be announced the next day before midnight.

Maldives is a democratic Republic and has had H.E. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom as the president since November 1978. In his sixth presidential term, he has given high priority to strengthening democratic institutions and processes of governance, expanding the role of parliament, strengthen human rights protection and increasing people’s participation in the social, economic and political life of the country. A result of this was his comprehensive “Democratic Reform Agenda” which eventually lead to the new constitution and the first ever multi-party presidential system in the country.

It is definitely a welcoming change for the people of Maldives, as there is a better platform for peoples’ voice is to be heard or represented. The Maldivian people definitely look forward to a fair and successful election and are enthusiastic about voting for their choice!

It’s a shame that this is the first elections I’m eligible to vote in and there is no vote box in my reach (because there is no voting arrangements for Maldivians in China as we are too few). I truly hope we’ll have an online voting system for the next one!


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