Current:Home > MarketsTradeEdge-Maldives opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz wins the presidential runoff, local media say -前500条预览:
TradeEdge-Maldives opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz wins the presidential runoff, local media say
Robert Brown View
Date:2025-04-09 11:13:39
MALE,TradeEdge Maldives (AP) — Maldives opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz, who supports closer ties between the Indian Ocean archipelago and China, won the presidential runoff on Saturday with more than 53% of the vote, local media reported.
The election has turned into a virtual referendum on which regional power — India or China — will have the biggest influence in the small nation. Muiz promised he would remove Indian troops from the Maldives and balance the country’s trade relations, which he said were heavily in India’s favor.
Mihaaru News reported that incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, seen as pro-India, had received 46% of the vote and that Muiz had won by more than 18,000 votes. Official results were expected Sunday.
“With today’s result we have got the opportunity to build the country’s future. The strength to ensure the freedom of Maldives,” Muiz said in a statement after his victory. “It’s time we put our differences aside and come together. We need to be a peaceful society.”
Muiz also requested that Solih transfer former President Abdulla Yameen to house arrest from prison.
It was a surprise win for Muiz, who entered the fray as an underdog. He was named only as a fallback candidate closer to the nomination deadline after the Supreme Court prevented Yameen from running because he his serving a prison sentence for money laundering and corruption. Yameen’s supporters say he’s been jailed for political reasons.
“Today’s result is a reflection of the patriotism of our people. A call on all our neighbours and bilateral partners to fully respect our independence and sovereignty,” said Mohamed Shareef, a top official of Muiz’s party. He told The Associated Press that it was also a mandate for Muiz to resurrect the economy and for Yameen’s release.
Neither Muiz nor Solih got more than 50% in the first round of voting earlier in September.
Solih, who was elected president in 2018, was battling allegations by Muiz that he had allowed India an unchecked presence in the country. Muiz’s party, the People’s National Congress, is viewed as heavily pro-China.
Solih has insisted that the Indian military’s presence in the Maldives was only to build a dockyard under an agreement between the two governments and that his country’s sovereignty won’t be violated.
Ahmed Shaheed, a former foreign minister of Maldives, termed the election verdict as a public revolt against the government’s failure to meet economic and governance expectations rather than concerns over Indian influence.
“I don’t think India was at all in the people’s minds,” Saheed said.
An engineer, Muiz had served as the housing minister for seven years. He was mayor of Male, the capital, when he was chosen to run for president.
Solih suffered a setback closer to the election when Mohamed Nasheed, a charismatic former president, broke away from his Maldivian Democratic Party and fielded his own candidate in the first round. He decided to remain neutral in the second round.
Yameen, leader of the People’s National Congress, made the Maldives a part of China’s Belt and Road initiative during his presidency from 2013 to 2018. The initiative is meant to build railroads, ports and highways to expand trade — and China’s influence — across Asia, Africa and Europe.
Despite the rhetoric, Muiz is unlikely to change the foreign policy of affording an important place to India, Shaheed said, adding Muiz is more likely to lessen opposition to Chinese projects on the islands.
The Maldives is made up of 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean located by the main shipping route between the East and the West.
“These five years have been the most peaceful and prosperous five years we’ve ever seen. We have had political peace, opposition candidates are not jailed every day,” said Abdul Muhusin, who said he voted for Solih.
Another voter, Saeedh Hussein, said he chose Muiz because “I want the Indian military to leave Maldives.”
“I don’t believe the Maldivian military has any control. Only Muiz can change these things and make the Indian military leave Maldives,” he said.
There were more than 282,000 eligible voters and turnout was 78% an hour before the polling stations closed.
___
Associated Press writer Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.
veryGood! (21461)
Related
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- Congress demands answers after safety regulator misses deadline on potentially lifesaving new rules for vehicle seats
- Kristin Juszczyk explains inspiration for Taylor Swift's Travis Kelce jacket, other designs
- Houthis continue attacks in Red Sea even after series of U.S. military strikes
- The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
- Bachelor Nation's Sarah Herron Is Pregnant With Twins Nearly One Year After Son’s Death
- 2.7 million Zimbabweans need food aid as El Nino compounds a drought crisis, UN food program says
- 'Devastating': Boy, 9, dies after crawling under school bus at Orlando apartment complex
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- Hawaii lawmakers open new legislative session with eyes on wildfire prevention and housing
Ranking
- Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
- How Natalia Bryant Is Channeling Late Dad Kobe Into Her Own Legacy
- Snuggle up With the BaubleBar Blanket Everyone Has on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
- Colorado funeral home owners apparently sought to cover up money problems by abandoning bodies
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- Kaley Cuoco gets candid about first year of motherhood, parenting hacks
- A New Jersey youth detention center had ‘culture of abuse,’ new lawsuit says
- BP names current interim boss as permanent CEO to replace predecessor who quit over personal conduct
Recommendation
Trump's 'stop
Jamie Lee Curtis opens up about turning 65: 'I'm much less hard on myself'
China and Ireland seek stronger ties during Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit
Horoscopes Today, January 16, 2024
Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
Sister Wives' Meri Brown Debuts New Romance After Kody Brown Breakup
St. Croix tap water remains unsafe to drink as US Virgin Islands offer short-term solutions
'Devastating': Boy, 9, dies after crawling under school bus at Orlando apartment complex