According to local media, opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz wins the Maldives presidential runoff

Local media reported that opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz won the Maldives presidential runoff on Saturday with more than 53 percent of the vote.

The election has become a referendum on whether India or China will have the most influence in the Indian Ocean archipelago country.

Mihaaru News reported that incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had received 46% of the vote and that Muiz had won by more than 18,000 votes. On Sunday, official results were anticipated.

“With today’s result we have got the opportunity to build the country's future. The strength to ensure the freedom of Maldives,” Muiz said in a statement after his victory. “It’s time we put our differences aside and come together. We need to be a peaceful society.”

Muiz also requested that Solih transfer former president Abdulla Yameen to house arrest from prison.

It was a surprise win for Muiz, who entered the fray as an underdog. He was named only as a fallback candidate closer to the nomination deadline after the Supreme Court prevented Yameen from running because he his serving a prison sentence for money laundering and corruption. Yameen’s supporters say he’s been jailed for political reasons.

“Today’s result is a reflection of the patriotism of our people. A call on all our neighbours and bilateral partners to fully respect our independence and sovereignty,” said Mohamed Shareef, a top official of Muiz's party. He told The Associated Press that it was also a mandate for Muiz to resurrect the economy and for Yameen's release.

Solih, who was elected president in 2018, was defending himself against Muiz's claims that he had permitted India's unchecked presence in the nation. Muiz's party, the People's National Congress, is viewed as heavily pro-China.

Solih has insisted that the Indian military's presence in the Maldives is limited to the construction of a dockyard in accordance with a bilateral agreement, and that his country's sovereignty will not be violated.

Muiz pledged that, if elected president, he would remove Indian troops from the Maldives and rebalance the country's trade relations, which he claimed heavily favoured India.

Ahmed Shaheed, a former foreign minister of Maldives, termed the election verdict as a public revolt against the government's failure to meet economic and governance expectations rather than concerns over Indian influence.

“I don't think India was at all in the people's minds,” Saheed said.

An engineer, Muiz had served as the housing minister for seven years. He was mayor of Male, the capital, when he was chosen to run for president.

Solih suffered a setback closer to the election when Mohamed Nasheed, a charismatic former president, broke away from his Maldivian Democratic Party and fielded his own candidate in the first round. He decided to remain neutral in the second round.

“Nasheed's departure took the motherboard away from the MDP,” Shaheed said.

Yameen, leader of the People’s National Congress, made the Maldives a part of China’s Belt and Road initiative during his presidency from 2013 to 2018. The initiative is meant to build railroads, ports and highways to expand trade — and China’s influence — across Asia, Africa and Europe.

Shaheed stated that despite Muiz's rhetoric, it is unlikely that he will alter the foreign policy of granting India a prominent position; rather, opposition to Chinese projects is likely to lessen, resulting in a more balanced distribution of power.

The Maldives are comprised of 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean, near the primary shipping route between East and West.

These past five years have been the most peaceful and prosperous in our history. Abdul Muhusin, who voted for Solih in Saturday's runoff election, stated, "We have had political peace, and opposition candidates are not imprisoned daily."

Saeedh Hussein, another voter, stated that he voted for Muiz because "I want the Indian military to leave Maldives."

"I do not believe that the Maldivian military has authority. Only Muiz can change these circumstances and force the Indian military to withdraw from the Maldives, he said.

An hour before polling stations closed, there were more than 282 000 eligible voters, and turnout was 78%.