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Pro-China Opposition Leader to be Next President of Maldives

by Eric Olander
File image of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) head Mohamed Muizzu who won a presidential run-off election on Saturday to become the Indian Ocean island state's next president. Mohamed Afrah / AFP

Maldives opposition leader Mohamed Muizzu easily won a second-round vote against incumbent Ibrahim Solih to become president-elect of the small Indian Ocean island state.

Muizzu, who is widely seen as favorable to increased engagement with China and less so with India, won 54% of the vote in Saturday’s run-off. The contest was widely seen, at least by outsiders, as a referendum on whether the country should lean more towards Beijing or New Delhi.

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