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Landslide win for pro-China leader’s party in Maldives election
- Voters backed President Mohamed Muizzu‘s tilt towards China and away from regional powerhouse and traditional benefactor India
- Muizzu’s PNC won 66 of first 86 seats declared, according to early results, already more than enough for a supermajority in the 93-member parliament
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Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu’s party 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.
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Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) secured more than two-thirds of the 93-member parliament, according to provisional results from the Elections Commission of Maldives.
The PNC secured 66 out of 86 declared, already more than enough for a supermajority. The formal ratification of the results is expected to take a week and the new assembly is to be in office from early May.
Only three women candidates out of a total of 41 were elected, the local Mihaaru newspaper said, adding that the winners were from Muizzu’s PNC.
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 flats on controversially reclaimed land.
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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.
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