Set Default selection in Django MultipleChoiceField
<p>I have a MultipleChoiceField  set in my forms.py and was wondering how to have a default option highlighted when the user opens the form.</p>

<p><strong>forms.py</strong></p>

<pre><code>def getCompReqNum():
    listCompNum = []

    all_reqs = Requisition.objects.distinct()
    for i in all_reqs:
        ....
        ....
    return tuple(listCompNum)

class CandidateForm(ModelForm)
...
    self.fields['req'] = forms.MultipleChoiceField(choices = getCompReqNum(), label = '* Requisition(s)')
    self.fields['req'].initial = "some default option"
...
widgets = {
'req_id'    : SelectMultiple()
 }
</code></pre>

<p><strong>models.py</strong></p>

<pre><code>class Candidate(models.Model)
...
   req = models.ManyToManyField(Requisition, blank = True)
....
</code></pre>

<p>The self.fields['field_name'].initial does not seem to be setting a default value for me. Is there another option to set so that when the form is loaded a default option is already highlighted on the form? Screenshot below of what I want to accomplish.</p>

<p><a href="http://i.stack.imgur.com/F3MC7.png" rel="nofollow">Screenshot</a></p>

<p><strong>HTML Inspection</strong></p>

<pre><code>&lt;select multiple="multiple" id="id_req" name="req"&gt;
    &lt;option value="56565"&gt;11-22 (sw2) (56565) &lt;/option&gt;
&lt;/select&gt;
</code></pre>