A voter casts her ballot at a polling station during the second round of Maldives' presidential election in Male on Sept 30, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

COLOMBO – The second round of the presidential election in the Maldives kicked off 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 the capital city Male.

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According to the Election Commission, 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 am and was set to conclude at 5 pm local time on Saturday, with 586 ballot boxes being set up for the election.

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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.