Maldives votes in parliamentary elections amid India-China rivalry

President Mohamed Muizzu’s moves to increasingly shift away from New Delhi has caused tension.

Voters in the Maldives are casting their ballots in a parliamentary election crucial for President Mohamed Muizzu, who has taken a pro-China stand and turned the archipelago nation away from longtime ally India since coming to power last September.

The elections on Sunday are being keenly watched by India and China as they vie for influence in the island country, which is known for its pristine beaches and luxury resorts and is strategically located in the Indian Ocean, where global east-west shipping lanes pass through.

About 284,000 people were eligible to vote in Sunday’s polls, and tentative results are expected later on the same day.

Six political parties and independent groups are fielding 368 candidates for 93 seats in Parliament. Splits in all the main political groupings, including Muizzu’s People’s National Congress-led ruling coalition and the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), are expected to make it hard for any single party to win an outright majority.

“This is perhaps the most difficult election to predict given the high degree of factionalisation, including in the ruling coalition,” said Azim Zahir, a lecturer and research fellow in international relations and politics at the University of Western Australia in Perth.

The opposition MDP, which swept the last parliamentary election in 2019, was “very cohesive and hence got super majority,” he noted. “Still, I think the ruling coalition and the MDP will get most seats,” Zahir added.

Muizzu won last year’s presidential polls on promises to cut off Indian influence with his “India out” campaign. He was widely seen as a proxy candidate for former President