President Mohamed Muizzu’s ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) has secured a supermajority with 60 seats in the Maldives Parliament following parliamentary elections that were held on Sunday, as reported by Maldives-based Sun Online.
The elections witnessed a considerable voter turnout with over 200,000 voters, casting their ballots for 326 candidates comepting for 93 seats in the next parliamentary assembly, which included six newly established seats. The PNC candidates contested for a vast majority of 90 seats while facing opposition from candidates representing various political parties, including the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Democrats, Jumhoory Party (JP), Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), Adhaalath Party (AP), Maldives National Party (MNP), and a large number of independent candidates.
The preliminary results of the elections indicate that President Mohamed Muizzu’s PNC has won more than 60 seats, representing approximately two-thirds of the total parliamentary composition. It is notable that this achievement is in a signficant contrast with the historical electoral outcomes, such as the MDP’s supermajority win with 64 seats in the 2019 elections and the PPM-PNC coalition’s limited success with only eight seats.
Mohamed Muizzu’s tenure as the president has witnessed the continuously evolving dynamics in Maldives’ foreign relations, particularly with neighboring India. Tensions had emerged when President Muizzu had criticised India during and after the presidential polls, where he had even formally requested the withdrawal of Indian troops from the borders of Male.
However, in a noteworthy diplomatic shift, President Muizzu recently reached out to New Delhi, requesting for debt relief measures and reaffirming India as the Maldives’ “closest ally.” He pressed on the importance of maintaining and preserving cordial relations with India and sought leniency in the terms of loan repayment in order to mitigate the economic burden that was passed on from the previous administrations.
In an interview with local media outlets, President Muizzu expressed optimism regarding the potential future collaborations with India and stressing on the need to accelerate ongoing development projects and alleviate financial strains through structured loan repayment discussions.
He said, “The conditions we have inherited are such that there are very large loans taken from India. Hence, we are holding discussions to explore leniencies in the repayment structure of these loans. Instead of halting any ongoing projects, proceed with them at speed. So I see no reason for any adverse effects [on Maldives-India relations.”
