Mohamed Muizzu’s party wins absolute majority in Maldives parliamentary polls

The People’s National Congress (PNC) of Maldives’s pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu won the Parliamentary elections with an absolute majority, poll results declared on Sunday showed.

In the elections held for the 93-member House, Muizzu’s party bagged 66 out of the 86 seats that were declared, the country’s election commission said.

With the results for the remaining seven seats yet to be announced, Muizzu’s PNC had 19 more than the majority mark of 47 seats already.

The landslide win for Muizzu’s party implies that the people are backing the president in his political tilt towards China, rather than towards another regional power, India.

President Muizzu, who was elected last September as a proxy for former president Abdulla Yameen, had pledged to do away with the country’s “India First” policy, risking ties with its neighbour.

Abdulla Yameen, another pro-China leader, was freed last week after a court struck down his 11-year sentence for corruption.

“All citizens should come out and exercise their right to vote as soon as possible,” President Muizzu said after casting his vote in Male, where he has held the mayoral post in the past.

Muizzu’s post as President was not affected by Sunday’s vote.

Meanwhile, the chief opposition party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), was staring at a huge defeat with only around a dozen seats in its kitty.