The Elections Commission (EC) of the Maldives has announced that the candidacy period for the upcoming presidential election will open on July 23 and close on August 7. The announcement comes after an amendment to the Presidential Elections Act took effect on Thursday, extending the presidential candidature filing window from 10 to 14 days.

EC Vice Chairman Ismail Habeeb said that the commission had taken into consideration the amendment when it set important elections dates, and that the draw to assign numbers for the candidates will be held on August 9. This will give candidates 30 days to campaign before the election, which is scheduled to be held on September 9.

Habeeb said that the commission was drafting changes to its regulations in light of the legislative changes. He also said that the commission was conducting its work in accordance with the schedule, but was having challenges in finding electoral officials.

"We have recruited some 2,000 officials so far. But we expect this to get solved soon. We have to assign focal points in islands," he said.

The EC had released the tentative voter's list as scheduled. The commission said on Friday that it received 551 complaints regarding the tentative list, and will respond to the complaints within the next five days.