Maldives leader celebrates victory in parliamentary election

Associated Press
Sunday, April 7, 2019 1:46 a.m. | Sunday, April 7, 2019 1:46 a.m.

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Madivian women cast their votes in Male, Maldives, Saturday, April 6, 2019. Voting took place in the Maldives in a parliamentary election that appears to have helped President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih overcome a coalition split that has hampered his efforts to restore political freedoms and tackle corruption.

MALE, Maldives — Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s party is leading in the vote count in the parliamentary election and has already declared a landslide victory that could give him a free hand in efforts to restore political freedoms and tackle corruption.

The official results are expected late Sunday. Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party is leading at 60 out of the 87 seats in Parliament, local reports said.

This could be the first time that a single party has won the majority in Parliament since the Indian Ocean archipelago nation became a multiparty democracy in 2008 after decades of autocratic rule.

More than 264,000 people were eligible to vote for 386 candidates running for the 87 seats. Voter turnout in Saturday’s election was over 78 percent.