Voting was extended in the Maldives presidential election on Sunday amid technical glitches, after police raided the Opposition’s campaign headquarters, fuelling fears of rigging in favour of China-friendly incumbent President Abdulla Yameen.
The Elections Commission said balloting was extended by three hours until 7pm (local time) because of technical glitches with tablet computers containing electoral rolls, and officials had to use manual systems to verify voters.
Many voters said they stood in line for over five hours to vote in many parts of the Indian Ocean archipelago, as well as in neighbouring Sri Lanka and India where expatriate Maldivians voted.
“Eight hours & counting. Waiting to exercise my democratic right! Let’s do this, Insha Allah!,” former foreign minister Dunya Maumoon said on Twitter. Maumoon, who is also the estranged neice of Yameen and daughter of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, voted at a polling booth in the Maldivian embassy in Colombo.
Yameen, who is expected to retain power, has imprisoned or forced into exile almost all his main rivals in a crackdown. Critics say he is returning the honeymoon island nation to authoritarian rule.