Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu's party loses mayoral polls amid diplomatic tensions with India

In a huge setback to Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, oppostion party Maldives Democratic Party (MDP)'s candidate Adam Azim won the mayoral elections of Male amid the ongoing diplomatic standoff with India. In 2023, Muizzu had resigned from the post to contest the presidential elections, news agenc. 

Azim's victory was reported as "landslide" and "victory by a large margin". Azim's win secured 5,303 votes out of 41 boxes counted, against his rival Aishath Azima Shakoor of Muizzu's People's National Congress (PNC) who garnered 3,301 votes. 

The election saw a low turnout and was conducted amidst a row sparked by derogatory comments made by three deputy ministers of the Muizzu government against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The comments stirred a social media row in India and calls for a boycott of Maldives by Indian tourists. Indian tourists ranked the highest in numbers, followed by Russians at second and the Chinese at third. 

In the wake of these comments, Muizzu suspended the three ministers and sought to strengthen Maldives' ties with Beijing during his recent state visit to China. Muizzu said in his media briefing that China granted Maldives $130 million in assistance for his country.  He said that this will be spent on developmental projects and the biggest spending will be on developing roads in Male. 

"The two sides agree to continue firmly supporting each other in safeguarding their respective core interests," said a joint statement issued at the end of Muizzu's talks with the top Chinese leaders. The two countries also inked an agreement to allow Maldivian-- Maldives' national airline-- to carry out domestic flight operations in China. 

During Muizzu's China visit, the two countries inked a $50 million agreement to develop a tourism zone in Hulhumale apart from building 30,000 social housing units in Rasmale. His visit to China was not only marred by the diplomatic tensions with India but also a report released by the EU Election Observation Mission of Maldives. 

The report said that the ruling coalition of the People's National Congress (PNC) and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) used anti-India sentiments and attempted to disseminate disinformation in the 2023 presidential elections which Muizzu won. 

After his visit to China, the Maldivian President said that his country might be small but that "doesn't give them the license to bully us", referring to India and the ongoing diplomatic row between the two countries. 

"We may be small but this doesn't give them the license to bully us," Muizzu, who is regarded as a pro-China leader, said without naming any country. "This ocean does not belong to a specific country. This (Indian) Ocean also belongs to all countries situated in it," he said, in an apparent jibe at India.

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