Maldivian President Muizzu’s party secures landslide win in parliamentary polls

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu's party got a landslide victory in Sunday election winning over 60 seats in Parliament, according to provisional results from the Elections Commission of Maldives.

Muizzu's People's National Congress (PNC) had secured more than two thirds in the 93-member parliament while its coalition partners Maldives National Party (MNP) and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) won one and two seats, respectively, in the 20th People’s Majlis with the power to amend the Constitution.

The PNC had secured 66 out of 86 declared which is already more than enough for a super-majority. 
The official results are expected after a week and the new assembly is to be in office from early May.

Former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), who is seen as a pro-India leader, held 65 seats in the previous parliament but won only 15 seats this time, Mihaaru, a news website, reported.

In the 2019 elections, the then-ruling MDP won a super majority in Parliament, with 64 seats while the then-opposition PPM-PNC coalition won just eight.

A total of 368 candidates were contesting, including 130 independent candidates, 10 candidates from Jumhoory Party (JP), 39 from The Democrats, Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) 4, Adhaalath Party (AP) 4, and Maldives National Party (MNP) 2 nominees. About 40 in numbers — 10.76 per cent — of the candidates were women.

The win comes amidst India’s deteriorating relations with the archipelago nation over its pro-China leaning.  Muizzu, 45, is seen as a pro-China leader and the ties between India and Maldives has significantly soured since he came to power last year.