President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has won the main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s Presidential Primary Election 2023.

According to the interim results of Saturday’s polls, President Solih won the election by a huge margin, with 61.10 percent of the votes.

While President Solih secured a total of 24،566 votes, his opponent, former President Mohamed Nasheed won 15،641 votes. This is 38.90 percent of the votes.

The interim results of the election shows that President Solih secures a higher percent of votes from all of the cities except for Kulhudhuffushi City. As such, the interim result of the city shows that President Nasheed won 245 votes from the city, while President Solih won 219 votes.

Looking at the results of the remaining cities; President Solih won 2,199 votes in Male' City, while President Nasheed won a total of 2,115 votes.

Results of Addu City shows that President Solih won 2,777 votes and President Nasheed won 2,536 votes.

Fuvahmulah City results shows that President Solih won 733 votes and President Nasheed won 699 votes.

After winning the election, President Solih met with his supporters and urged all the members of the party to work together to win the upcoming Presidential Election 2023.

Interim results also show that President Solih is leading the polls in most of the islands as well.

This is the first time President Solih has contested in a presidential primary of MDP.

A total of 57,255 members of the main ruling party were eligible to cast their ballots in the MDP primary.

A total of 244 ballot boxes were placed across the country for the primary election.

These include 194 ballot boxes across outlying atolls, 49 in the capital Malé City, one in its suburban extension Hulhumalé and one in Villimalé.

Voting at the polling stations proceeded from 09:00 am until 05:00 pm, Saturday.