Polling across the Maldives closed at 8pm as counting began in the local council elections on Saturday.
Elections Commission had extended voting in all polling stations with all but three closing at 6pm, two hours after the originally scheduled cut-off time. The three polling stations which failed to open more than two hours after voting opened closed at 8pm.
Preliminary results are coming in with official results from the 423 ballot boxes expected much later.
A total of 1,487 candidates had contested the elections for 664 seats including 563 councilors to 179 island councils, 67 councilors to 18 atoll councils and 23 councilors to three city councils.
Though 255,987 Maldivians were eligible to vote, voter turnout was reportedly much lower than expected.
Opposition meanwhile had slammed the country's electoral watchdog over its decision to extend voting.
During an impromptu press conference MDP chairperson Hassan Latheef questioned the elections commission's ability to hold a free and fair elections calling for the immediate resignation of its members.
Latheef accused the commission of attempting to influence the outcome of the elections through its arbitrary decision to extend voting.
The elections commission had earlier said no major complaints had been reported during the elections. MDP however, refuted the claim insisting that several major complaints had been flagged including possible vote rigging.
The sudden decision had sparked confusion and several ballot boxes had reportedly been closed at the 4pm cut-off time but had later been re-opened.
Opposition Jumhoory Party (JP) deputy leader Hussain Rasheed said the elections commission had no mandate to ensure a certain voter turnout insisting that closed ballot boxes cannot be re-opened in violation of due procedure.
MDP deputy chairperson Ali Niyaz said the exit polls had shown a landslide victory for the opposition.
Less than an hour after the press conference, a group of angry opposition supporters led by top MDP and JP officials forced their way into the elections commission headquarters and threatened its staff.
However, police had quickly intervened and led the protesters outside.
MDP had later denied storming the EC headquarters saying that its officials had only tried to meet commission officials to convey concerns over the elections.
Originally slated for January 14 the council elections had been delayed thrice, first ordered by the civil court over the rift in the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and twice by the elections commission.
After rescheduling the polls for April 8 after the court ruling, the commission postponed the polls again to April 15, claiming that public schools were unavailable to accommodate polling stations at an earlier date before delaying it for the third time to May 6 after the swine flu outbreak.
Compared to the more illustrious parliamentary and presidential elections, the council elections in the past have been considered less significant to the political parties in the Maldives since the decentralized system was introduced in 2009.
However, the elections comes amid an intense showdown between the government and the now opposition parties as both sides urging the people to come out in numbers to declare their support through the vote.
