Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) began its primary elections on Friday, in preparation for the upcoming local council elections.
Voting commenced at approximately 1430 hrs and is scheduled to conclude at 1730 hrs.
MDP, the largest party in the ruling coalition, has placed ballot boxes across MDP's campaign hubs, schools and convention centre Dharubaaruge in capital city Male'.
Although local council elections include 179 island councils, 18 atoll councils and 4 city councils, MDP is only hosting primaries in 93 islands. Roughly 400 canditates were endorsed by the party without a primary.
A total of 30,000 votes were cast during the primary election MDP held prior to the parliamentary election in 2019. Overall, the coalition leader has more than 87,000 members.