Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won the presidential primary election of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on Saturday.
The election follows a bitter campaign with Nasheed framing the poll as a choice between autocracy and democracy and accusing Solih of vote rigging and bribery.
This is the first time in the Maldives’ history that a sitting president has run in a re-election primary, ANI reported.
President Solih faced off against the party’s President and Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, and has received 19,096 votes so far, compared to Nasheed’s 12,005 votes. President Solih received 61 per cent of the votes cast, the report said.
President Solih, in his campaign, stated that the MDP would have a future in Maldives politics by collaborating with other parties. He has repeatedly stated that he will form a coalition with other parties, which he refers to as the “winning formula,” in order to continue the MDP’s rule.
Despite several challenges, President Solih’s clear victory in Saturday’s election secures him the presidential ticket of the Maldives’ largest political party.
Solih, 60, who assumed the presidency in 2018 for a five-year term, is the 7th President of the Republic of Maldives. He will run for the post of President in the September election.
The enmity between Solih and Nasheed has raised concerns of new turmoil in the island, four years after Maldivians voted out former President Abdulla Yameen, who jailed or forced into exile all of his political rivals, arresting Supreme Court judges and shuttering critical and independent media.
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