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An opposition candidate widely seen as pro-China won a runoff election to become the Maldives’ next president, marking a significant loss to India’s influence in the archipelago nation.
Mohamed Muizzu received 54 percent of the votes cast in Saturday’s election, the Maldives Electoral Commission said on Sunday after nearly all votes were counted, compared to 46 percent for incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
“Congratulations to President-elect Muizzu,” Solih wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, after conceding defeat on Sunday.
In a statement celebrating his victory, Muizzu stressed that the people of the Maldives should put aside their differences and work together. “With today’s result we have the opportunity to shape the future of the country. The power to ensure the freedom of the Maldives,” he said.
The vote in the Maldives highlighted the deep divide between pro-India and pro-Chinese camps in Asia’s smallest country. India and China dominate the island nation in the Indian Ocean, which has a population of just over 400,000 spread across the entire archipelago and is located in a strategically important location for trade and security.
The United States has also prioritized improving relations with the Maldives in recent years, sending career diplomat Hugo Yue-Ho Yon as its first resident ambassador there last month. The US government previously maintained diplomatic relations through its embassy in Sri Lanka.
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The Foreign Ministry congratulated Muizzu on his election victory on Sunday. The United States “looks forward to deepening our partnership with the Maldives and expanding our people-to-people ties,” spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated Muizzu. “India remains committed to strengthening the time-tested bilateral ties between India and the Maldives,” Modi wrote on X.
Incumbent Solih has been in power since 2018 and pushed for closer ties with New Delhi as part of an “India First” policy. This included seeking new trade agreements and allowing India to operate a small military establishment on the territory of the Maldives.
The opposition in the Maldives declares victory over the autocratic ruler in the presidential election
Solih’s move was a departure from the policies of his predecessor Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who led the country between 2013 and 2018. Yameen brought the country closer to Beijing and supported major infrastructure projects with Chinese funds under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Advocacy groups accused Yameen of human rights abuses during his time in office, and after he lost office in 2018, he was sent to prison on bribery and money laundering charges that his supporters claimed were politically motivated.
Muizzu, 45, a former construction minister and current mayor of the capital Malé, was not an obvious choice for presidential candidate – but he stepped in after a court ruled that Yameen could not run.
As an ally of Yameen, he had helped oversee several major infrastructure projects, including a $200 million Chinese-financed bridge that linked the capital to the Maldives’ main airport.
Muizzu led a campaign under the slogan “India Out”, arguing that the military presence in the Maldives was undermining its sovereignty and promising to expel all Indian military personnel. He also exploited widespread dissatisfaction with the country’s poor economic performance and used more nationalistic rhetoric.
Muizzu won the first round of the presidential election last month; After no candidate achieved an absolute majority, a second runoff election took place.
On Sunday, Yameen was moved from prison to house arrest. Muizzu had promised to release the former president if he won the election.
Muizzu’s victory sparked sharp comments from Indian commentators. Brahma Chellaney, a former member of India’s National Security Advisory Board and an outspoken critic of Beijing, wrote down
Anti-India sentiment in the predominantly Muslim Maldives has been linked to an attack on a New Delhi-sponsored yoga event in Malé last year. Indian media reports said some of the attackers carried flags of Muizzu’s Maldives Progressive Party and signs saying yoga was against the teachings of Islam.
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Indian influence in the Maldives has traditionally been strong, with New Delhi sending troops to the island in 1988 to thwart an attempted coup that would have overthrown the dictator it supported, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (Gayoom was eventually removed from power 30 years later). . 2008, after the country’s first democratic elections).
In 2018, an Indian MP publicly suggested that India should “invade” the Maldives if the elections were rigged, but the government quickly denied this.
In interviews with Indian publication The Wire, allies of Muizzu said the president-elect did not intend to upset relations with New Delhi and would likely make his first international visit to India, as other Maldives presidents have done.
“We should be able to continue to have friendly relations with India or any other country without having to be there,” said Ahmed Mohamed, who served as the Maldives’ ambassador to India during the Yameen administration.