Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) has decided to hold its Presidential Primary on January 28th, where the party will decide on a candidate to contest at the 2023 Presidential Election.

An announcement released by the party on Sunday read that while applications are now open to compete in the party primary, the deadline for submission is by December 24th, at 4:00pm. It further added that candidates will have to submit support forms from 500 party members.

As per the timeline finalized by the party, by December 26th a final list of candidates along with their candidate numbers will be publicized. By December 28th, the voter's list for the primary will be publicized and open for complaints. Such complaints must be submitted by 4:00pm on December 31st.

The final voter's list will be publicized on January 3rd, while voting will be conducted on January 28th.

While the party has announced its primary – President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has expressed his interest in running for a second term, also confirming his decision to compete in MDP’s primary. Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has also been preparing to compete.