Main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has delayed its primaries for the women’s development committee elections.

The party revealed that it will be holding the primaries for the women’s development committee elections on 17 February, a Monday.

Voting for the primaries will proceed from 02:30pm to 07:30pm, said MDP.

While the primaries were initially scheduled to be held on 14 February, the party did not divulge a reason as to why it was postponed.

While these primaries have been delayed, MDP held its primary election to elect candidates to contest in the upcoming local council elections on 31 January.

Opposition Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) has also announced its decision to hold primaries for the local council elections, slated for 4 April 2020.

This will be the first time the ECM is scheduled to hold two different elections during one day, after the amendments made to the Decentralization Act, the last one was held during February 2011. ECM assures the public that this year’s elections are expected to be different in every way.

1,912 candidates will be elected in both elections this year, 980 out of which is contesting for the local councils and 930 for women’s development committees.