Maldives votes today, president Muizzu's anti-India policy faces crucial test
After assuming office, Muizzu has awarded high-profile infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies as campaigning for the parliamentary elections was in full swing. His administration is also in the process of sending home Indian troops that operate reconnaissance aircraft gifted by New Delhi
- Apr 21, 2024,
- Updated Apr 21, 2024 10:05 AM IST
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu's policies of tilting towards China and moving away from India will face a real test today as the country votes in a parliamentary election.
Muizzu (45) won last September's presidential poll as a proxy for pro-China ex-president Abdulla Yameen, who was freed this week after a court set aside his 11-year jail term in a corruption case.
After assuming office, Muizzu has awarded high-profile infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies as campaigning for the parliamentary elections was in full swing. His administration is also in the process of sending home Indian troops that operate reconnaissance aircraft gifted by New Delhi to patrol the vast maritime borders of the archipelago.
"Geopolitics is very much in the background as parties campaign for votes in Sunday's election," a senior aide of Muizzu told AFP. "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."
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 a majority.
A court in the capital 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.
Yameen had also backed closer alignment with Beijing while in power but his conviction left him unable to contest last year's presidential poll on his own.
Around 285,000 Maldivians are eligible to vote on Sunday, with results likely by early the next day.
Primarily known as one of the most expensive holiday destinations in South Asia, with pristine white beaches and secluded resorts, the strategic Indian Ocean island nation has also become a geopolitical hotspot.
Global east-west shipping lanes pass the nation's chain of 1,192 tiny coral islands, stretching around 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator.
(With AFP inputs)
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu's policies of tilting towards China and moving away from India will face a real test today as the country votes in a parliamentary election.
Muizzu (45) won last September's presidential poll as a proxy for pro-China ex-president Abdulla Yameen, who was freed this week after a court set aside his 11-year jail term in a corruption case.
After assuming office, Muizzu has awarded high-profile infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies as campaigning for the parliamentary elections was in full swing. His administration is also in the process of sending home Indian troops that operate reconnaissance aircraft gifted by New Delhi to patrol the vast maritime borders of the archipelago.
"Geopolitics is very much in the background as parties campaign for votes in Sunday's election," a senior aide of Muizzu told AFP. "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."
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 a majority.
A court in the capital 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.
Yameen had also backed closer alignment with Beijing while in power but his conviction left him unable to contest last year's presidential poll on his own.
Around 285,000 Maldivians are eligible to vote on Sunday, with results likely by early the next day.
Primarily known as one of the most expensive holiday destinations in South Asia, with pristine white beaches and secluded resorts, the strategic Indian Ocean island nation has also become a geopolitical hotspot.
Global east-west shipping lanes pass the nation's chain of 1,192 tiny coral islands, stretching around 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator.
(With AFP inputs)