Maldives conducts polls in the shadow of India-China rivalry
A total of 602 ballot boxes have been set up in the Maldives and three other countries for the election
MALÉ: Voting began in the Maldives on Sunday in a parliamentary election likely to test President Mohamed Muizzu’s tilt towards China and away from India, the luxury tourism hotspot’s traditional benefactor.
A total of 602 ballot boxes have been set up in the Maldives and three other countries for the parliamentary election.
Polling stations are also open in 34 resorts, prisons, and other industrial islands.
The countries in which ballot boxes are placed for voting are Thiruvananthapuram, Colombo in Sri Lanka and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, mnews.mv reported.
Among the first to vote was Muizzu, 45, who cast his ballot at the Tajuddin school in the capital Male.
Speaking to reporters after casting the ballot, he urged every citizen to exercise their right to vote as soon as possible.
“Voting is a constitutional right and responsibility afforded to every citizen. All citizens should come out and exercise their right to vote as soon as possible.
“It is the responsibility of eligible voters to not wait until evening and quickly attend their respective polling stations to cast ballots,” Press Trust of India reported citing newsportal edition.mv.
Former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who now serves as a top advisor at the main opposition MDP, cast his ballot at a polling station in Male.
Parliamentarians will be elected to a total of 93 constituencies, with 368 candidates contesting from six parties, includMuizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) and the main opposition the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), and as independents.
Election chief Fuad Thaufeeq urged the 284,663 eligible voters to cast their ballots early. Polling stations across the archipelago opened for nine and a half hours.
Primarily known as one of the most expensive holiday destinations in South Asia, with pristine white beaches and secluded resorts, the atoll nation has also become a geopolitical hotspot in the Indian Ocean.
Global east-west shipping lanes pass the nation’s chain of 1,192 tiny coral islands, which stretch around 800 kilometres across the equator.
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 stateowned 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 current parliament, dominated by the pro-India Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) of Muizzu’s immediate predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, has sought to stymie his efforts to realign the archipelago’s diplomacy.
“Geopolitics is very much in the background as parties caming paign for votes in Sunday’s election,” a senior aide of Muizzu told AFP, 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.”
Since Muizzu came to office, lawmakers have blocked three of his nominees to the cabinet and refused some of his spending proposals.
Splits in all the main political parties, including Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC), are expected to make it hard for any single party to win an outright majority.
But Muizzu’s prospects received a fillip with the release of his mentor Yameen from house arrest on Thursday.
A court in Male ordered a retrial in the graft and money laundering cases that saw Yameen sent to prison after he lost a re-election bid in 2018.
While in power, Yameen supported closer alignment with Beijing, but his conviction barred him from contesting last year’s presidential poll. In his stead, he proposed Muizzu as a proxy candidate.
Following his departure from the High Court, Yameen pledged to uphold the anti-India campaign that contributed to his ally’s victory.