Opposition leader wins Maldives elections

New Delhi, Sep 30 (EFE).- Maldivian opposition Mohamed Muizzu was to become the Maldives’ new president after surpassing outgoing President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih at the polls, a triumph representing a great change for the country’s political panorama.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the people of Maldives. This result today is a great encouragement for us in our quest to build a better future for our country and guarantee the sovereignty of our nation,” Muizzu said in his first speech.

Muizzu gained more than 126,000 votes, representing 53.7 percent of the total, leaving Solih behind with 46 percent of the votes, according to the preliminary count.

“Congratulations to Muizzu for winning the Maldivian presidential election. I would like to thank the people of Maldives for the democratic example they set in today’s vote,” the outgoing president posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The Indian Ocean nation, with fewer than 300,000 voters, recorded a turnout of more than 80 percent, according to official data from the Maldives Election Commission.

Muizzu, who had until now served as mayor of Male, was the candidate of the opposition coalition of the Maldives Progressive Party and the National People’s Congress.

The participation of this 45-year-old engineer in the Maldives presidential race came as a stroke of luck, after former president Abdulla Yameen, main leader of the opposition coalition, was banned from running in the elections while serving a sentence. for corruption.

The fact that Muizzu’s name wasn’t among the two favorites of the opposition organization for these elections, caused some media users and critics of the newly elected president to refer to this as the opposition’s “plan C.”

These elections are seen as an open consultation on the country’s foreign policy, with feelings motivated mainly by nationalism and criticism from each party about the surrender of sovereignty in the face of alliances with the powerful in the region.

While Solih is seen as the pro-India figure, Muizzu is presented as the link to Beijing and the promise of bringing the island nation back into China’s sphere of influence. EFE

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