Earth Science News
DEMOCRACY
Landslide win for pro-China leader's party in Maldives vote
Landslide win for pro-China leader's party in Maldives vote
By Mohamed VISHAM
Male, Maldives (AFP) April 21, 2024

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu's party won control of parliament in a Sunday election landslide, results showed, with voters backing his tilt towards China and away from regional powerhouse and traditional benefactor India.

Muizzu's People's National Congress (PNC) had secured more than two thirds in the 93-member parliament, according to provisional results from the Elections Commission of Maldives.

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

Only three women candidates out of a total of 41 were elected, the local Mihaaru newspaper said adding that the winners were from Muizzu's PNC.

The vote was seen as a crucial test for Muizzu's plan to press ahead with closer economic cooperation with China, including building thousands of apartments on controversially reclaimed land.

The PNC and its allies had only eight seats in the outgoing parliament, with the lack of a majority stymieing Muizzu after his presidential election victory in September.

The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) -- which had previously had a super-majority of its own -- was headed for a humiliating defeat with just a dozen seats.

Muizzu, 45, had been among the first to vote Sunday, casting his ballot at a school in the capital Male -- where he was previously mayor -- and urging Maldivians to turn out in high numbers.

"All citizens should come out and exercise their right to vote as soon as possible," he told reporters.

The Maldives, a low-lying nation of some 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator, is one of the countries most vulnerable to sea level rises caused by global warming.

Muizzu, a former construction minister, has promised he will beat back the waves through ambitious land reclamation and building islands higher, a policy which environmentalists argue could even exacerbate flooding risks.

The Maldives is known as a top luxury holiday destination thanks to its pristine white beaches and secluded resorts.

But in recent years it has also become a geopolitical hotspot in the Indian Ocean, where global east-west shipping lanes pass the archipelago.

Muizzu won last September's presidential poll as a proxy for pro-China ex-president Abdulla Yameen, freed last week after a court set aside his 11-year jail term for corruption.

- Indian troops leaving -

This month, as campaigning for the parliamentary elections was in full swing, Muizzu awarded high-profile infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies.

His administration is also in the process of sending home a garrison of 89 Indian troops who operate reconnaissance aircraft gifted by New Delhi to patrol the Maldives' vast maritime borders.

The outgoing parliament, dominated by the pro-India MDP of Muizzu's immediate predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, has sought to disrupt his efforts to realign Maldivian diplomacy.

Since Muizzu came to power, lawmakers blocked three of his nominees to the cabinet and refused some of his spending proposals.

"Geopolitics is very much in the background as parties campaign for votes in Sunday's election," a senior Muizzu aide told AFP ahead of the poll, asking not to be named.

"He came to power on a promise to send back Indian troops and he is working on it. The parliament has not been cooperating with him since he came to power."

Solih was also among those voting early and expressed confidence his party would emerge victorious. There was no immediate reaction from his party to their poor showing in Sunday's vote.

Election chief Fuad Thaufeeq said after polls closed that turnout had already reached 73 percent of the 284,663 electorate when half an hour of voting remained.

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
DEMOCRACY
ASEAN 'deeply concerned' by escalating Myanmar violence
Bangkok (AFP) April 19, 2024
Southeast Asian regional bloc ASEAN said it is "deeply concerned" about a recent upsurge in fighting in Myanmar, after fierce clashes over a key trading hub on the Thai border. The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations urged "all parties for an immediate cessation of violence" in Myanmar, which has been roiled by conflict since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup. The ministers' statement issued late Thursday said 10-member ASEAN was "deeply concerned over ... read more

DEMOCRACY
Ecuador approves extradition, anti-gang measures

Asia hit hardest by climate, weather disasters in 2023:UN

Post-WWII order on 'brink of collapse': Amnesty head

Satellite data reveals subsidence risk for a third of China's urban population

DEMOCRACY
US firms reestablish rare earth element production

This alloy is kinky

Machine learning identifies hybrid glass-crystal phase in study

New NMR technique enhances understanding of zeolite structures

DEMOCRACY
As Olympics near, Macron says Seine will be clean enough for him

Plastic pollution impacts embryo survival across multiple marine species

Norway women bring seaweed to culinary heights in Europe

Drought-hit Barcelona to get floating desalination plant

DEMOCRACY
West Antarctic ice shelf stability threatened by feedback loop

New geological map redefines understanding of Greenland's subterranean rocks

From peak to plummet: impending decline of the warm Arctic-cold continents phenomenon

Ocean currents drive rapid Antarctic ice shelf melting

DEMOCRACY
Wine growers 'on tip of Africa' race to adapt to climate change

Waste not want not: Peruvian drive to feed more with less

Record heat rots cocoa beans threatening Ivory Coast agriculture

Farmers dump sheep killed by wolves in front of Swiss government building

DEMOCRACY
'Crisis not over' as eruptions at Indonesia volcano go on

Greece floods reconstruction to cost over 3 bn euros: PM

Taiwan hit by dozens of strong aftershocks from deadly quake

Taiwan hit by dozens of strong aftershocks from deadly quake

DEMOCRACY
African leaders call for more cooperation on terrorism

Mauritanian defence minister in Mali after diplomatic row

US, Niger begin talks on exit of American troops

IMF chief urges attention to war-ravaged Yemen, Sudan

DEMOCRACY
Evidence of long term human occupation in lava tube cave in Saudi Arabia

Schoningen Discoveries Highlight Wood's Vital Role in Early Human Technology

Activists slam new Hong Kong ID card policy for trans people

Paleolithic sites near water sources key to understanding early human hunting practices

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.