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Agence France-Presse

Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu won Saturday’s presidential election in the Maldives, a result set to once again upend the archipelago’s relationship with traditional benefactor India.
Muizzu, 45, helms a party that presided over an influx of Chinese loans when it last held power in the atoll nation, better known for its luxury beach resorts and celebrity tourists.
He won 54.06 per cent of the vote in the run-off contest, prompting incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to concede defeat shortly before midnight.
“Congratulations to president-elect Muizzu,” Solih wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I also congratulate the people who have shown a peaceful and democratic process.”
Voting in Maldives: nation that’s a hotbed of rivalry between India and China
Muizzu made a brief appearance outside his party’s campaign headquarters to urge supporters not to celebrate until Sunday morning, when campaign restrictions officially come to an end.
Solih, 61, will serve as caretaker president until his successor is inaugurated on November 17.
The result upends Solih’s efforts to revert the country’s diplomatic posture back towards New Delhi since taking office five years ago.
Muizzu played a pivotal role in an earlier government’s development programme, bankrolled in part by financial largesse from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s plan for growing global trade.

He told a meeting with Chinese Communist Party officials last year that his party’s return to office would “script a further chapter of strong ties between our two countries”.
The Maldives sits in a strategically vital position in the middle of the Indian Ocean, astride one of the world’s busiest east-west shipping lanes.
Muizzu’s mentor, former president Abdulla Yameen, borrowed heavily from China for construction projects and spurned India.
Solih was elected in 2018 on the back of discontent with Yameen’s increasingly autocratic rule, accusing him of pushing the country into a Chinese debt trap.
Jailing of Maldives’ China-leaning former leader could fan anti-India tensions
Yameen’s turn towards Beijing had also alarmed New Delhi, which shares concerns with the United States and its allies about China’s growing assertiveness in the Indian Ocean.
India is a member of the strategic Quad alliance alongside the United States, Australia and Japan.
But Solih’s restoration of the Maldives’ traditional posture itself proved controversial, with many in the archipelago disapproving of India’s outsize political and economic clout.
Muizzu has vowed to free Yameen, currently serving an 11-year sentence for corruption on the same prison island where he had jailed many of his political opponents during his tenure.

In his brief appearance on Saturday, Muizzu urged the outgoing president to use his executive power and transfer Yameen to house arrest.
Turnout in Saturday’s poll was 85 per cent, slightly higher than the first-round vote held earlier this month.
Watchdog group Transparency Maldives said there had been some incidents of “electoral violence,” without specifying further details.
Officials said one voter broke open a plastic ballot box, but the ballots were saved and there was no interruption to the count.
Police reported arresting 14 people, mostly for taking photographs of their marked ballot papers and sharing them on social media.


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Maldives

Pro-China candidate wins Maldives presidency

Maldives’ main opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz (right) participates in a rally in Male on Friday. Photo: AP

Maldives President Ibrahim Solih casts his vote during the second round of a presidential election in Male on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Supporters of Mohamed Muizzu shout slogans along a street in Male on Saturday to demand the release of former Maldives president Abdulla Yameen. Photo: AFP

Ex-Maldives leader Yameen’s jail sentence could fan flames of his ‘India Out’ campaign

Former Maldives president Abdulla Yameen has vowed to appeal against an 11-year jail sentence over corruption and money laundering, raising fears his “India Out” movement may gain momentum at a pivotal time. Photo: AFP

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) and former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed. Photo: AFP

Malé, the capital of Maldives. Photo: Getty Images

‘India Out’: pro-China ex-president spurs on tourist boycott calls in the Maldives

An aerial view of the island of Malé, capital of the Maldives. Photo: AFP

This handout photograph taken and released by India's Press Information Bureau (PIB) on November 17, 2018 shows new Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih embracing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Solih's presidential inauguration in Male, Maldives. - Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was inaugurated November 17 as the new president of the Maldives after the opposition united to dislodge pro-China strongman leader Abdulla Yameen in September elections. (Photo by Handout / PIB / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / PIB" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Abdulla Yameen, former president of the Maldives, shakes hand with China's President Xi Jinping after a meeting in Beijing in 2017. Photo: AFP

Maldives vote gets under way in shadow of China-India power play

Maldives President Ibrahim Solih arrives to cast his vote during the second round of a presidential election on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

An election official marks with ink the finger of a voter at a polling station during Maldives’ presidential election on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Voters gather at a polling station on Saturday, during the second round of the Maldives’ presidential election. Photo: AFP

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Mohamed Muizzu won 54.06 per cent of the vote in the run-off contest, prompting incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to concede defeat shortly before midnight
The victory by Muizzu, whose party presided over an influx of Chinese loans, is set to upend the archipelago’s relationship with traditional benefactor India


Mohamed Muizzu’s victory over incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is set to once again the archipelago’s relationship with traditional benefactor India.
