Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu arrives to cast his ballot for the parliamentary election at a polling station in Mali, Maldives on April 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

After his party won a decisive majority in Sunday’s general elections, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu has both executive powers and parliamentary backing to shape the island nation’s policies for the next five years.

Provisional results showed that the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) secured 71 out of the 93 seats in parliament or People’s Majlis, as it is known in the island nation. The party was preparing to hold a huge celebration titled “Welcome — to the People’s Nation’s Majlis”, in capital Male on Monday night.

The Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) which had put up a similar, impressive show in 2019, winning 65 out of 87 seats then, faced a serious setback in this election, losing in most constituencies. The party secured only a dozen seats. Significantly, candidates affiliated to the two new formations of former Presidents Abdulla Yameen and Mohamed Nasheed who split, respectively, from Mr. Muizzu and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, failed to win a single seat.

“I am still in some kind of shock, and trying to make sense of the results,” said Ibrahim Ismail, a former MP from the MDP, an academic and a prominent voice in the country’s pro-democracy reform movement since the early 2000s. “This sort of three-fourths majority allows them to even re-write the Constitution. And it’s always a red flag when one party is able to do that in a democracy,” he told The Hindu from Male. He said the new composition also gave rise to fears over the possible undermining of the rule of law.

It is not that the MDP did not wield similar control over the last parliament, but some like Mr. Ismail see the current situation as being “very different”. “How a party [PNC] that is not known to espouse democratic values might deal with such absolute power is a major concern. The MDP for all its internal weaknesses is a party rooted in democracy and human rights. Also, it offers more space for diverse voices and dissent within,” Mr. Ismail contended.

While citing the MDP’s internal fissures, especially around the split of President Nasheed, as one of the chief reasons for the electorate’s disillusionment with the party, the former MP said Mr. Solih “went overboard” with his ‘India First’ policy, much like his predecessor Mr. Yameen, who “did the same with China”.

All the same Mr. Muizzu’s detractors worry that his political camp’s ultra-nationalist rhetoric may not bode well for balanced international relations in the long run. “It is not ideal for small countries to tilt too much towards one power or the other,” Mr. Ismail observed.

Mr. Muizzu’s foreign policy priorities are no secret. After making “India out” his poll plank in last year’s Presidential race, he gave it policy direction, eventually getting New Delhi to agree to replace its military personnel with civilians. Around the same time, he pledged to elevate strategic ties with China.

According to Ahmed Mohamed, a former diplomat who served as the Maldives’s Ambassador to India during President Yameen’s term, the results of the general election in the Maldives only point to a continuing trend observed in the past two elections. “There is a widespread belief among the public that in order to sustain progress, development, and prosperity, the government must secure an absolute majority in the Majlis,” he told The Hindu. “Given this outcome, I do not anticipate any changes to the foreign policy of the Maldives,” he added.

Male:

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu on Monday said the outcome of the general elections has shown the world that Maldivians want “autonomy” in choosing their future and do not want “foreign coercion”.

The pro-China leader made the remarks during the celebratory event held a day after the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) secured a “super majority” in Sunday’s elections to the People’s Majlis.

Muizzu-led People’s National Congress (PNC) party won 68 out of 93 seats in Sunday’s polls and its coalition partners Maldives National Party (MNP) and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) won one and two seats, respectively, which is more than two-thirds in Parliament.

Muizzu, who has forced the withdrawal of most of the 88 Indian military personnel manning three aviation platforms gifted by India to the Maldives, said, “We are a proud nation that love sovereignty and freedom, which we have shown to the international community as well,” he was quoted as saying by Sun.mv news portal.

He said the parliamentary election outcome is proof Maldivians want to uphold and sustain the Islamic faith and its guiding principles as a core identity in shaping up the country’s future. The President said the outcome of the election is a message to the rest of the world about the Maldivian people’s vision and objectives.

The parliamentary election result was also to prove Maldivians want “autonomy in choosing their future, without foreign coercion,” President Muizzu said, without naming any country.

He has previously accused India of meddling in the affairs of the Maldives and won the presidential elections in September last year with an “India Out” campaign.

“It has also become evident for those with other hidden agendas, what Maldivians want. So, I urge them to let go of dissidence, now that the elections are over,” the president said.

Since assuming office in November last year, he has visited China and cemented Male’s ties with Beijing, including in the defence sector.

Muizzu said Maldivians were looking ahead at a bright future.

He said the efforts in ensuring Maldives was headed in the right direction, following the earlier presidential election victory, has been upheld with Sunday’s super majority win.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), led by former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who is seen as a pro-India leader, won only 15 seats this time.

The parliamentary majority for the PNC would give Muizzu the legislative backing to shape the foreign policy of the strategically placed archipelagic state in the Indian Ocean geographically located close to India’s southern coast.

In his address, Muizzu also called on political leaders to move forward with the development of the country.

“I now wish to leave the differences. The election is over. I just very politely, happily call on all politicians and all political parties to move forward. This country belongs to all of us. This country belongs to every Dhvehi citizen Let’s move forward together. Hopefully we will all have that happiness,” he was quoted as saying by Adhadhu.com.

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

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.)

The Opposition parties have demanded a probe and impeachment of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu following the leaked report of his alleged corruption from 2018. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Ahead of the parliamentary polls in the Maldives, the Opposition parties have demanded a probe and impeachment of President Mohamed Muizzu following the leaked report of his alleged corruption from 2018, a charge dismissed by him.

Elections to the Majlis are to be held on Sunday and the atmosphere has been vitiated by the trading of charges between the main Opposition the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Mr. Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC).

Local media reports have highlighted that the political storm started on Monday with an anonymous handle ‘Hassan Kurusee’ posting on social media X leaked intelligence reports, including documents prepared by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Maldives Monetary Authority and the Maldives Police Service that allegedly linked President Muizzu to corruption.

“These reports, dated circa 2018, claim irregularities in money transfers to President Muizzu’s personal bank account, highlighting 10 critical red flag indicators of financial misconduct. These indicators suggest involvement with politically exposed persons, embezzlement, structured transactions, and the use of corporate entities to hide fund origins,” news portal Maldives Republic (mvrepublic.com) reported.

The allegations soon created a political storm with several reactions pouring in on various social media channels. News portals and newspapers, however, tread with caution. The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and People’s National Front (PNF) demanded an investigation into the matter.

Former Vice President Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed urged Mr. Muizzu’s impeachment following the leaked intelligence reports. Taking to his social media handle X, Dr. Jameel reposted these documents, emphasising the need for accountability at all levels of governance.

Apart from demanding Mr. Muizzu’s impeachment, Dr. Jameel, a senior member of the Progressive Party of Maldives, “also accused President Muizzu of extensive corruption in his flagship Ras Male’ development project and alleged excessive spending on public relations. Dr. Jameel has called on President Muizzu to cooperate with independent investigations into these allegations,” mvrepublic.com said.

The news portal also claimed that this was the first time an FIU report was leaked and said, there has been no official confirmation or response from government bodies regarding the legitimacy of the reports or the allegations.

Adhadhu.com reported that President Muizzu responded late on Tuesday night to corruption allegations declaring that the Opposition “cannot show any wrongdoing on his part regardless of how far attempts to implicate him are taken” and also accused the Opposition of leaking the reports out of desperation.

“The same allegations had been made during his campaigns for mayor and President,” he said adding, the response would also be the same as before.

“While you attempt to pin something on me like this, you couldn’t do it before and you can’t do it now. There’s nothing you can show against me no matter how far you take this,” Adhadhu.com said, quoting the President.

Atoll Times gave a detailed account of what President Muizzu said in his defence, including how he would “never compromise the rights of the people and that no matter how many such allegations are made, nobody will be able to show anything done in such a manner.”

“The last five years Opposition was in government, if there was anything done wrong, it would have come to light,” Mr. Muizzu said.

“The President’s remarks came after the Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and People’s National Front (PNF) called on the relevant authorities to investigate the serious allegations against the President. But no government investigative agency has yet to comment on the issue,” Adhadhu.com reported.

A total of 368 candidates are contesting for 93 seats in this year’s parliamentary elections on April 21, according to media reports. The outcome of the elections will determine whether the Opposition parties can act against President Muizzu, who assumed charge in November last year.

Colombo:

The Maldives votes in a presidential runoff on Saturday that could drastically rebalance its relations with India and China, two regional giants competing for influence in the geopolitical hotspot.

The atoll nation of nearly 1,200 coral islets is a prestige tourism hotspot and favourite beach holiday destination for the world’s rich and famous.

It also sits in a strategically vital position in the middle of the Indian Ocean, astride one of the world’s busiest east-west shipping lanes.

Frontrunner Mohamed Muizzu’s party moved into Beijing’s orbit while last in office and was an eager recipient of financial largesse from China’s Belt and Road infrastructure programme.

Muizzu, the 45-year-old mayor of Male, spearheaded the $200 million China-backed bridge linking the capital to the country’s main airport while in the last government.

He won just over 46 percent of the first round earlier this month while incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who presided over the restoration of ties with traditional benefactor India, trailed at 39 percent.

But with only 283,000 eligible voters, and barely 15,000 votes between the pair, former foreign minister Ahmed Shaheed told AFP the contest was on a knife’s edge.

“The mood in the Maldives suggests that the two candidates are narrowing their gap,” Shaheed said.

“This is going to be a very, very close race.”

Solih won office in 2018 on the back of discontent with his autocratic predecessor Abdullah Yameen, an ally of Muizzu’s who is now serving an 11-year prison sentence for corruption.

He had accused Yameen of pushing the country into a Chinese debt trap by borrowing heavily for infrastructure.

Yameen’s turn towards Beijing had alarmed New Delhi, which shares Western concern at China’s growing assertiveness in the Indian Ocean and is a member of the strategic Quad alliance alongside the United States, Australia and Japan.

Solih, 61, moved swiftly to repair the relationship with India, inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend his inauguration and allowing a boost to its small military presence.

‘Independence and sovereignty’

Since losing the first round on September 9, Solih has sought to rally support by campaigning on local issues such as housing.

Muizzu’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has kept the debate focused on diplomacy by hammering Solih’s stance towards India, a country with outsized political and economic clout in the nation that has long been a source of disaffection.

The PPM and activist groups have regularly staged street protests demanding a reduction of Indian influence in the Muslim nation.

Public anger against India was partly a reflection of people’s frustration with the perceived or real corruption of the Solih administration, Shaheed said.

He added that the stability of the next government would depend on charting a course that avoided antagonising either of the archipelago’s powerful suitors.

“The next president will have to balance the interests of both India and China,” Shaheed told AFP. “You can’t spurn India and survive.”

Muizzu’s allies say his election would help rid the country of foreign interference altogether.

Dunya Maumoon, a former cabinet minister who served alongside Muizzu, told AFP this week she supported his efforts to help “rescue the country’s independence and sovereignty”.

But Muizzu has been open about his plans to pursue the pro-Beijing tilt of his mentor Yameen.

He told an online meeting with Chinese Communist Party representatives last year that if the PPM returned to power it would “script a further chapter of strong ties between our two countries”.

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

Voters seen at a polling station in Maldivian capital Male Saturday morning, on the day of the Presidential elections of the Indian Ocean Archipelago.
| Photo Credit: Meera Srinivasan

 Maldivian voters, known for their high, near-90% turnout in past elections, began lining up at polling stations in capital Male early on Saturday, to choose their President in a crucial contest.

Several schools, set up as polling stations, were buzzing with early voters. While eight candidates, including three independents, are running for the country’s top office, for voters it was a choice between continuity and change.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say I want change, but I certainly want improvement in planning policy and implementing it,” said a 33-year-old voter who asked not to be named. “I am here to basically exercise my democratic right,” she told The Hindu, outside a polling station.

Incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, elected in 2018 from the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), is seeking a second term after his party split with Parliamentary Speaker and former President Mohamed Nasheed deciding to break away. His supporters formed The Democrats and have fielded a separate candidate. Male Mayor Mohamed Muizzu, backed by the People’s National Congress in the main oppositional camp, has emerged an important contender, according to local political observers.

Most candidates, including President Solih, have promised good governance, economic development and opportunities for youth in their manifestos. Some voters said the televised debate helped them make up their mind. “I did not want to go just by the poll manifesto, so I took a decision based on the debate. I think we need a leader who has a clear vision and the ability to express it to the public,” said a first-time voter, also requesting anonymity.  

As many as 574 ballot boxes have been placed across the capital, and in over 300 atolls, in addition to tourist resorts and overseas election centres, the island nation’s Election Commission said, highlighting the logistics behind the elections. The Indian Ocean archipelago has a 99.4 % literacy rate, and of its 5.2 lakh-population, more than half are eligible to vote. If no candidate secures over 50 % of the vote, a run-off election will have to be held within 21 days, authorities said.