Voters in North Hithadhoo, Addu City, went to the polls on Saturday, with the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) and the primary opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) competing for the open parliamentary seat in the constituency.

Voting commenced at 08:00 am and will conclude at 04:00 pm.

The EC has set up seven ballot boxes for the election; five at the Hithadhoo School in Addu City and two at the Dharumavantha School in Male’ City.

The North Hithadhoo seat was formerly occupied by Mohamed Sinan (Sina), a politician from the ruling PNC, who lost it on April 12 after a Supreme Court ruling regarding an asserted debt.

The empty position is being battled over by ex-Addu City councilman Ahmed Saeed (Soda) representing the PNC and former Addu City mayor Abdulla Sodiq (Sobe) from the MDP.

Sodiq obtained the MDP ticket by running unopposed in the party's primary, whereas Saeed lost the PNC primary to Sinan but received the ticket when the former lawmaker chose to withdraw from the election.

A total of 4,121 individuals are qualified to cast their votes in the election, comprising 2,073 females and 2,048 males.