Landslide Win For Pro-China Leader’s Party In Maldives Parliamentary Vote

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu’s party has won a landslide victory in a parliamentary election, cementing his grip on power.

Provisional results show the People’s National Congress (PNC) won 66 seats in the 93-member house.

Analysts view the victory as strong backing for Mr Muizzu’s policy to achieve close ties with China.

Mr Muizzu, who is widely seen as pro-China, wants to reduce India’s longstanding influence in his country.

Local media have described the PNC’s win, which will be ratified in several days’ time, as a “super majority”. It has achieved the two-thirds in parliament that is required to amend the constitution.

The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has managed to win only 15 seats. Prior to Sunday’s vote it had the majority of seats in parliament.

“This is a remarkable achievement for Mr Muizzu,” says Azim Zahir, a Maldives analyst and a lecturer at the University of Western Australia.

“From a political institutional view, Mr Muizzu now effectively controls everything. He could theoretically control judiciary too as he has enough numbers in parliament,” Mr Zahir says.

Around 85 Indian military personnel were based in the Maldives to maintain and operate two helicopters and an aircraft for rescue and reconnaissance work. The aircraft were donated by Delhi some years ago.

Two batches of Indian military personnel have already left the Maldives and they have been replaced by India’s civilian technical staff. The remaining troops are expected to leave the Maldives by 10 May.

His decision to send the Indian troops has strained Male’s ties with Delhi and Beijing has appeared keen to exploit that.

Mr Muizzu went on a state visit to Beijing in January and signed several agreements for investments.

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.

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.