Maldives President seeks allies in runoff election after rival Muizzu poll

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

AFP: Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said he was seeking allies Sunday in his bid for re-election in a runoff vote, a day after finishing second in initial polls.

Solih’s attempt for a second term has been turned into a referendum on his pursuit of renewed ties with India, the archipelago nation’s traditional benefactor.

Final official results showed Solih took 39.05% of the vote, behind his key rival, the capital’s mayor Mohamed Muizzu, on 46.06%.

“We have to ally with others,” 61-year-old Solih told reporters Sunday, blaming his poor showing on “unforeseen factors” but without giving details.

The independent Elections Commission said the runoff election will be on 30 September.

Muizzu got 101,635 votes while Solih managed 86,161, with the other candidates in the race now standing down.

Third-placed Ilyas Labeeb, a breakaway candidate from Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) who got 15,839 or 7.18%, has not indicated which of the top two candidates he will now support.

Muizzu, 45, is a proxy of former President Abdulla Yameen, who is both pro-China and a campaigner for drastically reducing economic and military ties with India.

Yameen is serving an 11-year sentence following his corruption conviction in December and was barred from contesting Saturday’s vote.

He borrowed heavily from China for construction projects during his autocratic five-year tenure, making the Maldives – better known for its luxury tourism –a hotbed of geopolitical rivalry.

After his shock victory five years ago, Solih moved swiftly to repair relations with New Delhi strained under Yameen, who banked on Beijing for loans and diplomatic support.

Eight candidates were in the running for the top job in the Indian Ocean nation of 1,192 coral islets, scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator.

Nearly 80% of the 282,000-strong electorate turned out to vote, compared with 90% in the 2018 poll.