Global Courant
The Maldives Electoral Commission shows that Mohamed Muizzu won 54 percent of the vote against incumbent Mohamed Solih in the second round after neither won an outright victory earlier this month.
Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has conceded defeat in the second round of the presidential election after an official tally showed his rival Mohamed Muizzu with an impenetrable lead.
“Congratulations to President-elect Muizzu,” Solih wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the Maldives Election Commission showed his opponent winning 54 percent of the vote on Saturday.
“Thank you for the wonderful democratic example that the people showed in the elections,” he added. Official results are expected later on Sunday.
Muizzu, 45, emerged as the surprise frontrunner during the first round of voting on September 8, with about 46 percent of the votes cast. Solih – hurt by low voter turnout and a division within his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – won 39 percent.
The run-off was believed to have significant implications for the Maldives’ foreign policy, especially in deciding China and India’s battle for influence in the strategically located archipelago.
President of the Maldives Ibrahim Solih casts his vote (Dhahau Naseem/Reuters)
“Today’s result is a reflection of the patriotism of our people. A call to all our neighbors and bilateral partners to fully respect our independence and sovereignty,” said a top official of Muizzu’s Progressive Party of Maldives, Mohamed Shareef, according to the Associated Press news agency.
He told the news agency that it was also a mandate for Muizzu to revive the economy and the release of People’s National Congress party leader and former president Abdulla Yameen from prison.
Yameen is serving a prison sentence for corruption and money laundering, but his supporters say he is jailed for political reasons. Muizzu was Housing Minister for seven years and is currently mayor of the capital Male.
Watchdog group Transparency Maldives said there had been some incidents of “electoral violence”, without specifying further details.
There were more than 282,000 eligible voters and turnout was 78 percent an hour before the polling stations closed.
Solih, 61, will be acting president until his successor is inaugurated on November 17.
India, China corner
Solih, who was first elected president in 2018, fought Muizzu’s accusations that he had allowed India an uncontrolled presence in the country. Muizzu is seen as pro-China.
Solih has maintained that the Indian Army’s presence in the Maldives was only to build a shipyard under an agreement between the two governments and that his country’s sovereignty will not be violated.
Muizzu promised that if he won the presidency, he would remove Indian troops from the Maldives and rebalance the country’s trade ties, which he said were heavily in India’s favor.
Ahmed Shaheed, a former foreign minister of the Maldives, called the election verdict a public revolt against the government’s inability to meet economic and governance expectations rather than concerns about Indian influence.
“I don’t think India was at all in people’s minds,” Saheed said.
Solih suffered a setback closer to the elections when Mohamed Nasheed, a charismatic former president, broke away from his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and fielded his own candidate in the first round. He decided to remain neutral in the second round.
“Nasheed’s departure took the motherboard away from the MDP,” Shaheed said.
Yameen, leader of the People’s National Congress, made the Maldives part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative during his presidency from 2013 to 2018. The initiative aims to build railways, ports and highways to expand trade – and China’s influence – across Asia. Africa and Europe.
Nevertheless, Muizzu is unlikely to change foreign policy to give India prominence. Rather, opposition to Chinese projects is more likely to decline as the balance of power comes into play, Shaheed said.
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