Some 386 candidates competed for 87 seats in the third multi-party parliamentary elections in the Maldives.
After a two-hour extension, polls closed at 6pm and vote counting began half an hour after ballot boxes were sealed.
There were 493 ballot boxes in the Maldives and eight boxes in overseas polling stations in Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.
The Maldivian Democratic Party led by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was hoping to secure a majority to push through its ambitious legislative agenda. Standing in the way of the MDP were dozens of independent candidates as well as rivals from ruling coalition partners.
The Jumhooree Party – the second largest party in the four-party coalition that swept Solih into office last September – made a pact with opposition parties led by former president Abdulla Yameen to back each other’s candidates.
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