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Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - The next president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, 45, roundly defeated incumbent leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih yesterday and is set to be sworn in on November 17. — AFP pic
MALÉ, Oct 1 — The next president of the Maldives is an ardent advocate of Chinese investment who promised to steer the luxury tourism hotspot back towards Beijing’s orbit if he wins.
Mohamed Muizzu, 45, roundly defeated incumbent leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih yesterday and is set to be sworn in on November 17.
A British-educated civil engineer, he was an unlikely candidate for the presidency after serving as construction minister in the government of his mentor Abdulla Yameen.
But Yameen’s jailing for corruption saw Muizzu tapped to lead the party as his proxy in an election fought on whether the strategically placed atoll aligns itself with China or India.
Muizzu, presently the mayor of Male, oversaw several Chinese-funded infrastructure projects including a US$200-million bridge linking the capital with the archipelago’s main airport.
He told Chinese Communist Party officials during an online meeting last year that his party’s return to office would expand the “strong ties between our two countries”.
Muizzu’s election success hinged on a sustained campaign against India’s outsized political and economic clout in the Maldives.
New Delhi has a history of entanglements with affairs here, including the deployment of soldiers to thwart a 1988 coup attempt.
Its influence has been a periodic source of resentment in the Muslim majority nation.
Last year, an Islamist group stormed a football stadium in Male to break up a public yoga session, with police firing tear gas to disperse the protesters.
‘India Out’
Muizzu’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has fashioned itself the custodian of the national interest by pledging to free the country from interference by its northern neighbour.
“Yameen benefitted from the ‘India Out’ campaign and that in turn helped Muizzu,” former civil servant Masood Imad told AFP.
The PPM has vowed to rid the Maldives of India’s small military detachment, which operates four donated aircraft that protect its vast coastline and help with medical evacuations.
Imad said he expected Muizzu to renegotiate other bilateral agreements with India.
Muizzu has also vowed to pardon Yameen, the architect of their party’s eager embrace of Beijing’s financial largesse through the Belt and Road Initiative.
Yameen is currently serving an 11-year jail term on the same remote prison island he had imprisoned opponents during his autocratic presidency. — AFP
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