Parliamentary election final results announced

Elections Commission has on Friday night announced the final results of the parliamentary election held on 22 March 2014. The final results remained consistent with the preliminary results.

Majority of seats, 53 of 85, were secured by the ruling coalition parties. Leading Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) secured 33 seats, Jumhoory Party (JP) 15 seats, and the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) gained 5 seats.

Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) won 26 seats in the new parliament. The remaining five seats were secured by independent candidates.

Speaking to the press, Elections Commission member Ahmed Farooq said some boxes were recounted following complaints and that except for Nilandhoo constituency, the number of ballots received by all candidates remained unchanged. The recount in Nilandhoo ballots did not produce a change in winner.

The total of 189,642 ballots were cast for the 18 parliamentary election; 95,744 men and 93,898 women.

The election saw a turn-out of 78.08 percent of eligible voters, a better attendance than expected, Elections Commission said. A total of 1.12 percent votes were disregarded as invalid votes.

Elections Complaints bureau received 75 complaints, of which 52 were accepted and addressed. The complaints include issues of election bribery, influence through intimidation and complaints regarding voters turned away due to registration issues.

The commission will not pursue any criminal case over the parliamentary election, Elections Commission said.