President Mohamed Muiz’s move to move further away from New Delhi has caused tensions.
Voters in the Maldives are voting in a crucial parliamentary election for President Mohamed Muiz, who has taken a pro-China stance since taking power last September and has alienated the Maldives from long-time ally India. .
Sunday’s election will be closely watched by India and China as they vie for influence in the island nation, known for its pristine beaches and luxury resorts and strategically located in the Indian Ocean along the world’s east-west sea route. are doing. .
About 284,000 people were eligible to vote in Sunday’s vote, with provisional results expected to be announced the same day.
Six political parties and independent groups are fielding 368 candidates for 93 seats in parliament. All major political groups, including the ruling coalition led by Muizu’s People’s Congress and the opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), are split, and it is expected that it will be difficult for any single party to win an outright majority. .
Azim Zahir, a lecturer and researcher in international relations and politics at the University of Western Australia in Perth, said: “This is probably the most unpredictable election given the level of factionalism, including within the ruling coalition.” Deaf,” he said.
He pointed out that the opposition Democratic Party, which won an overwhelming victory in the last parliamentary election in 2019, “was able to win a super majority because it was extremely united.” “Still, I think the ruling party and the Democratic Party will win the majority of seats,” Zahir added.
Muiz won last year’s presidential election polls with his “India Out” campaign, pledging to cut off Indian influence. He was widely seen as a potential replacement for former President Abdullah Yameen, who held power from 2013 to 2018 and whose 11-year prison sentence for bribery was overturned by a court last week.
The two men have been at odds since Muiz took office, with Yameen founding a rival party, the People’s National Front, to contest Sunday’s polls.
On the eve of the election, Muiz accused his immediate predecessor, Mohammed Ibrahim Solih, of infringing on India’s sovereignty by giving him too much influence over India, and told his coalition government to protect the country’s independence. He appealed to voters to give them a majority.
“Everyone who loves our country must ensure that the decisions we make tomorrow will protect our country’s future,” he said. “The vote you cast tomorrow must be for national sovereignty and the protection of our country,” he added.
The incumbent leader highlighted the government’s efforts to deport around 75 Indian soldiers stationed in the Maldives and said the party needed a parliamentary majority to follow through on its election promise.
Indian military personnel are known to have operated two aircraft donated by India to help rescue people stranded at sea or in the face of disaster. Muiz would like to see civilians take over these activities.
Opposition parties, meanwhile, are portraying Sunday’s election as a choice between dictatorship and democracy.
Former President Sorif appealed to voters at the Democratic Party’s final election rally on Saturday to vote for the opposition party to hold the government accountable.
“Tomorrow’s vote is about protecting the democracy we all fought so hard to establish here,” he told supporters.
Solih’s current Democratic-controlled parliament is trying to thwart Muiz’s efforts to reshape the archipelago’s diplomacy.
Relations between India and the Maldives further deteriorated in January when Indian social media activists launched a campaign to boycott Maldives tourism.
The move comes after three Maldives deputy ministers made disparaging remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had floated the idea of promoting tourism in Lakshadweep, a chain of Indian islands similar to the Maldives. It was a retaliation.
According to recent Maldivian government statistics, the number of Indian tourists has declined and the country has fallen from the top spot for foreign tourists to sixth place.
Muiz visited China earlier this year and negotiated an increase in Chinese tourists and inbound flights. The administration has also awarded high-profile infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies.
In 2013, the Maldives joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to build ports and highways to expand trade and China’s influence across Asia, Africa and Europe.
The Maldives is made up of approximately 1,200 coral islands and atolls and has a population of approximately 520,000 people.
