New Delhi:

In what could potentially harden Maldives president Mohamed Muizzu’s pro-China stance, his party, the People’s National Congress (PNC), has scored a thumping victory in the island nation’s parliamentary election held yesterday.

The PNC, which contested 90 out of the 93 seats in Maldivian parliament Majlis, has won 66 out of the 86 seats for which results had been declared. This is more than a two-third majority in the House.

This result will enable President Muizzu, seen as anti-India, to push policies through the parliament. The seat tally is a cause for concern for New Delhi, which has been watching Male’s tilt towards Beijing ever since President Muizzu was elected to the top post last year.

Why This Result Is Important

The Majlis exercises supervisory powers over the Maldivian executive and can hold up presidential decisions. Before this election, PNC was part of an alliance that was in the minority in the House. This meant that even though Muizzu was president, he did not have the political muscle to push through policies.

The Majlis was then dominated by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), led by Muizzu’s pro-India predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, with 41 members. MDP is headed for a humiliating defeat this time, with wins in just a dozen seats, news agency AFP has reported.

Earlier, while the MDP-dominated House blocked many of Muizzu’s plans, members of the Opposition publicly flagged and criticised his anti-India position. A senior aide of Muizzu told news agency AFP earlier, “He (Muizzu) came to power on a promise to send back Indian troops, and he is working on it. The parliament has not been cooperating.” This result changes that.

This election was seen as a test for Muizzu’s plans to boost economic cooperation with China. Since taking over, the president has awarded major infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies. His party’s electoral victory is set to clear most obstacles for him.

Male’s Growing Tilt Towards Beijing

Ever since he was elected in the presidential election last year, Muizzu stepped up the island’s outreach to Beijing, a development New Delhi has watched with concern. Soon after his election, Muizzu visited Beijing and met Chinese president Xi Jinping. On his return, he said, “We may be small, but this doesn’t give them the licence to bully us.” While he did not name any country, the remark was seen as a swipe at India.

President Muizzu also pushed for the exit of 80-odd Indian soldiers who were stationed on the island for humanitarian work.

Last month, however, Muizzu appeared to be extending an olive branch when he acknowledged India’s financial support to Male and said “India will remain the Maldives’ closest ally”. At the close of last year, the Maldives owes India around $400.9 million.

India has so far adopted a restrained approach and downplayed the strained ties. Asked about New Delhi-Male relations after Muizzu’s election, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar had said neighbours need each other. “History and geography are very powerful forces. There is no escape from that,” he had said.

For China, expanding their role in the strategically-located Maldives is critical to their Indian Ocean push at a time when the region has become one of immense geopolitical significance.

Male:

The party of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu won control of parliament in a Sunday election landslide, results showed, with voters backing his tilt towards China and away from regional powerhouse and traditional benefactor India.

Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) won 66 of the first 86 seats declared, according to the Elections Commission of Maldives results, already more than enough for a super-majority in the 93-member majlis, or parliament.

The vote was seen as a crucial test for Muizzu’s plan to press ahead with closer economic cooperation with China, including building thousands of apartments on controversially reclaimed land.

The PNC and its allies had only eight seats in the outgoing parliament, with the lack of a majority stymieing Muizzu after his presidential election victory in September.

The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) — which had previously had a super-majority of its own — was headed for a humiliating defeat with just a dozen seats.

Muizzu, 45, had been among the first to vote Sunday, casting his ballot at a school in the capital Male — where he was previously mayor — and urging Maldivians to turn out in high numbers.

President Dr @MMuizzu cast his ballot in the 2024 Parliamentary Elections. The voting process took place at the polling station for the President’s constituency at the Thaajudheen School. pic.twitter.com/p4pHuXzx2R

— The President’s Office (@presidencymv) April 21, 2024

“All citizens should come out and exercise their right to vote as soon as possible,” Muizzu told reporters.

The Maldives, a low-lying nation of some 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator, is one of the countries most vulnerable to sea level rises caused by global warming.

Muizzu, a former construction minister, has promised he will beat back the waves through ambitious land reclamation and building islands higher, a policy which environmentalists argue could even exacerbate flooding risks.

The Maldives is known as a top luxury holiday destination thanks to its pristine white beaches and secluded resorts. 

But in recent years it has also become a geopolitical hotspot in the Indian Ocean, where global east-west shipping lanes pass the archipelago.

Muizzu won last September’s presidential poll as a proxy for pro-China ex-president Abdulla Yameen, freed last week after a court set aside his 11-year jail term for corruption.

This month, as campaigning for the parliamentary elections was in full swing, Muizzu awarded high-profile infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies.

His administration is also in the process of sending home a garrison of 89 Indian troops who operate reconnaissance aircraft gifted by New Delhi to patrol the Maldives’ vast maritime borders.

The outgoing parliament, dominated by the pro-India MDP of Muizzu’s immediate predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, has sought to disrupt his efforts to realign Maldivian diplomacy.

Since Muizzu came to power, lawmakers blocked three of his nominees to the cabinet and refused some of his spending proposals.

“Geopolitics is very much in the background as parties campaign for votes in Sunday’s election,” a senior Muizzu aide told AFP ahead of the poll, asking not to be named.

“He came to power on a promise to send back Indian troops and he is working on it. The parliament has not been cooperating with him since he came to power.”

Solih was also among those voting early and expressed confidence his party would emerge victorious. There was no immediate reaction from his party to their poor showing in Sunday’s vote.

Election chief Fuad Thaufeeq said after polls closed that turnout had already reached 73 percent of the 284,663 electorate when half an hour of voting remained.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)