Maldives heads for a second round of presidential election between incumbent president and his challenger, as none of eight candidates has so far secured more than 50 percent of votes to win outright on Saturday.

Mohamed Muizzu, candidate of the coalition of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and People's National Congress (PNC), and incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih have received the highest number of votes. Local media raajje.mv reported that, interim results showed that Muizzu takes the lead with 45.6 percent of the votes, with Solih following with 39.71 percent.

Muizzu, also mayor of capital city Male, is endorsed by PPM and PNC coalition.

The Elections Commission of the island country in the Indian Ocean has set Sept 30 as the date for a runoff between the first two candidates.

On Saturday, more than 282,000 voters eligible to choose the nation's president with a five-year term started the voting early in the morning. Voters lined up over 570 polling stations set up for the election across the nation to cast their votes. Overseas ballots were also available.

A total of eight candidates contest this year's poll, which is the greatest number of candidates running in a presidential race in the country's history, said raajje,mv. Muizzu, endorsed by PPM and PNC coalition, was also mayor of capital city Male.

For other candidates, Ilyas Labeeb from The Democrats got 6.97 of the votes, independent candidate Umar Naseer got 2.83 percent, Jumhooree Party's candidate business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim got 2.57 percent, independent candidate Faris Maumoon got 1.36 percent, candidate of Maldives National Party (MNP) Mohamed Nazim got 0.82 percent and independent candidate Hassan Zameel, 0.15 percent of the votes.

Unlike previous years, only about 75 percent of eligible voters exercised their right to vote in this year's election, making it the lowest turnout in the country's history, said the local report.

Former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, said on X, formerly known as Twitter, "May Maldives continue to reap the benefits of true democracy and peace in the years ahead."

vivienxu@chinadailyapac.com