Maldives boots out Yameen in election shock
Strongman Solih vows ‘smooth’ transition
MALE: The Maldives government yesterday acknowledged President Abdulla Yameen’s surprise defeat in presidential elections.
Mr Yameen conceded defeat in elections and said he would arrange a smooth transition for president-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Soli yesterday.
“I accept the defeat,” Mr Yameen said in a televised address to the nation. “I will enable a smooth transition.”
Results from Sunday’s election released by the electoral commission showed Mr Yameen on 41.7% of the vote, well behind the only other candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the joint candidate of the weakened opposition, on 58.3%.
The final official result will take up to a week to be published.
At the last election in 2013, the Supreme Court annulled the result after Mr Yameen trailed f ormer president Mohamed Nasheed, giving him time to forge alliances and win a second round of voting that was postponed twice.
Mr Yameen had been expected to triumph on Sunday. His main political rivals are either in prison or in exile, and he is widely accused of muzzling the media.
State media, which before the election gave very little coverage to the opposition, also broadcast images of Mr Solih declaring himself the winner.
Nearly 90% of the 262,000 electorate turned out to vote, with some waiting in line for more than five hours.
Celebrations broke out across the 1,200island tropical archipelago popular with wealthy foreign tourists, with opposition supporters waving yellow flags of Mr Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and dancing in the streets.
In his victory speech, Mr Solih called the election results “a moment of happiness, hope and history,’’ but said he did not think the election process had been transparent.
A police raid on Mr Solih’s main campaign office the night before the election was seen as a worrying sign that Mr Yameen would attempt to “muzzle his way’’ to reelection, according to Hamid Abdul Gafoor, an opposition spokesman and former Maldives lawmaker now based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The US State Department, which had warned of “appropriate measures” if the vote was not free and fair, yesterday called on Mr Yameen to “respect the will of the people”.
The European Union had said that it was not sending election observers because the Maldives had failed to meet the basic conditions for monitoring.
Regional superpower India, competing with China to retain its influence in the region, was the first to “heartily congratulate” Mr Solih.
“This election marks not only the triumph of democratic forces in the Maldives, but also reflects the firm commitment to the values of democracy and the rule of law,” the foreign ministry said.
Sri Lanka, home to many Maldivian dissidents, also congratulated him but China, which has loaned Mr Yameen’s government hundreds of millions of dollars for an infrastructure blitz, was yet to comment, with yesterday being a public holiday.
Mr Solih had the backing of a united opposition trying to oust Mr Yameen but struggled for visibility. The local media was fearful of falling foul of reporting restrictions.
On Sunday night he called on Mr Yameen to concede defeat once the tally showed he had an unassailable lead.
“I call on Mr Yameen to respect the will of the people and bring about a peaceful, smooth transfer of power,” Mr Solih said on television.
He also urged the incumbent immediately to release scores of political prisoners, including former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom — Mr Yameen’s half-brother — who was jailed along with the Chief Justice and another Supreme Court justice amid accusations of an imminent coup.
Mr Nasheed said the vote would “bring the country back to the democratic path” and Mr Yameen had no option but to concede defeat.
“He will not have people around him who will support him to stay,” the exiled former leader said in Colombo.
Independent international monitors were barred from the election and only a handful of foreign media were allowed in to cover the poll.
The Asian Network for Free Elections, a foreign monitoring group that was denied access to the Maldives, said the campaign had been heavily tilted in favour of Mr Yameen.
The government has used “vaguely worded laws to silence dissent and imprison critics”, some of whom have been assaulted and even murdered, according to Human Rights Watch.
Sreeram Chaulia, dean of India’s Jindal School of International Affairs, said it was hard to “second guess” what Mr Yameen’s next move would be.