MALE: Maldives strongman President Yameen Abdul Gayoom conceded that he lost Sunday’s election to his challenger, longtime lawmaker Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, in a speech broadcast live on television on Monday.

Speaking in the Maldives’ native language, Dhivehi, Yameen congratulated Solih and said, “I know I have to step down now.” The concession and the results were a surprise to Maldives’ opposition, who had feared Yameen would rig the vote in his favour.

Since getting elected in 2013, Yameen had cracked down on political dissent, jailing rivals including his half brother and the Maldives’ first democratically elected president and Supreme Court justices.

The election commission released provisional results earlier on Monday showing Solih had won the South Asian island nation’s third-ever multiparty presidential election with 58.3 per cent of the vote. The commission said voter turnout in the country of 400,000 people was 89.2 per cent.

Solih, 56, was a democracy activist during decades of autocratic rule and a former Parliament majority leader. He became the Maldivian Democratic Party’s presidential candidate after its other top figures were jailed or exiled by Yameen’s government.

Party leader and former President Mohamed Nasheed, in exile in Sri Lanka, had hoped to run again but was disqualified because of an outstanding prison sentence in the Maldives.

India and China, jostling for influence in the Indian Ocean, had been watching the election closely. India, another former British colony, played a major role in helping build the Maldivian economy, underwriting political stability through support of decades of autocratic rule.

India’s foreign ministry issued a statement on Monday saying it looked forward to working with Solih’s new government “in further deepening our relationship”.

Part of Maldives growth is due to aid and investment from China, which is challenging India’s long-held position as the dominant outside power throughout South Asia. China considers Maldives a key cog in its “Belt and Road” project along ancient trade routes through the Indian Ocean and Central Asia.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2018