Ali Azim has extended his congratulations to the current Male’ Mayor Adam Azim, who triumphed over him in the main opposition MDP’s primary conducted on Friday to select candidates for April’s local council election on the party’s ballot.

The most awaited race in Friday’s primary, featuring a total of 154 candidates, was the Male’ mayoral position.

Adam Azim secured the Male’ mayoral nomination after a fierce contest against former Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim.

Ali Azim was one of the MDP members who left the party in 2023 before the presidential elections to establish The Democrats, running against the MDP and its candidate, then-President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. In 2025, the Democrats members reassociated with MDP, stating their belief that “a robust opposition is the most effective method to secure victory in the local council election, enhance Maldives' future, maintain an accountable government, and revive the declining trust in a competitive multi-party system.”

More than 5,000 MDP members could vote in the primary from Male’ constituencies. In the primary, 17 ballot boxes designated for Male’ constituencies saw Adam Azim winning in most of them.

After his loss, Ali Azim called Adam Azim on Friday night to congratulate him on his victory. He conveyed his desire for MDP to succeed, while promising to put forth every effort to secure MDP’s victory in the mayoral election for the local council.

Although the Male’ mayoral position is a highly contested electoral role, there are worries about rifts within the MDP mirroring the incidents that occurred right before the 2023 presidential election.

MDP’s leaders conveyed assurance that this type of incident would not happen again.