Maldives – The counting of votes in the Maldivian Democratic Party’s presidential primary has begun and the results so far show that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is leading by a large margin.
Two-thirds of the 249 ballot boxes have been counted so far in the primary for the MDP presidential candidate. While the results of 140 boxes have been released to the media, so far, the results show that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has received 12,000 votes. The former president Mohamed Nasheed received 6,000 votes.
Since the results were announced, the president has been holding on to 60 percent. With more than half the votes counted, the president is at 67 percent. With the votes cast in this election, it is very unlikely that the President will lose the remaining ballot boxes.
According to the Election Commission, the MDP has 58,175 members. However, 57,255 people are eligible to vote in the MDP primary today. A total of 283 votes were cast in the primary.
About 30,000 people reportedly voted by the deadline.
This is the most competitive election in the life of the MDP. The MDP opened the opportunity for those interested in contesting the primary on December 18 last year.
When the deadline expired, the President and MDP senior leader Ibrahim Mohammed Solih and MDP President and Parliament Speaker Mohammed Nasheed contested the election.
