The strongman President of the Maldives on Monday conceded defeat in elections, easing fears of a fresh political crisis in the archipelago at the centre of a battle for influence between India and China.
“The Maldivian people have decided what they want. I have accepted the results,” President Abdulla Yameen said in a televised address to the Indian Ocean nation a day after the joint Opposition candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, unexpectedly triumphed.
“Earlier today, I met with Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who the Maldivian electorate has chosen to be their next president. I have congratulated him,” Yameen said.
There had been concerns at home and abroad that Yameen might not accept the outcome. He had borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from China for an infrastructure blitz, to the alarm of the Maldives’ traditional backer India.
At the last election in 2013, the Supreme Court annulled the result after Yameen trailed former President Mohamed Nasheed, giving Yameen time to forge alliances and win a second round of voting that was postponed twice.
Results from Sunday’s election showed Yameen on 41.7 per cent of the vote, well behind Solih on 58.3 per cent.
