Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu served as the Mayor of Male until he resigned from the post recently to contest presidential elections last year.

India-Maldives Diplomatic Row: Amid the ongoing diplomatic row with India, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu’s party has lost the Male Mayoral polls to pro-India opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) by a wide margin.

MDP’s candidate Adam Azim was elected and new mayor of Maldives capital Male after what was described by the country’s media as a “landslide” and “victory by a large margin”.

Mohamed Muizzu served as the Mayor of Male until he resigned from the post recently to contest presidential elections last year.

The MDP is headed by pro-India former president Mohammad Solih, who was defeated by Muizzu, a pro-China leader, in the presidential elections.

The interim results show that Azim won with 45 per cent of the vote while Azima Shakoor of Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) received 29 per cent, PSM News reported.

Others who vied for the mayoral seat included Saif Fathih, the candidate of The Democrats, and independent candidates Hussain Waheed and Ali Shuaib.

The poll on Saturday was marked by a low turnout with around 30 percent of the 54,680 eligible voters exercising their mandate, reports said.

The Mayoral election victory is expected to revive the political fortunes of the MDP, which still holds a majority in the Parliament.

Talking to the media, Azim said that his victory was a victory for all residents of Male.

Speaking to Mihaaru News, Azim expressed gratitude towards those who supported him and voted for him in the election. He also thanked MDP’s leadership and campaign teams.

President Muizzu, who returned to Male on Saturday after a five-day state visit to China, congratulated Azim and pledged to cooperate with the Male City Council and the Mayor.

‘We are small, but can’t be bullied’

Following his return, Muizzu took a veiled jab at India, asserting that Maldives may be small but it doesn’t give other countries the license to “bully us”.

“We may be small but this doesn’t give them the license to bully us,” Muizzu, who is regarded as a pro-China leader, said without naming any country.

“Though we have small islands in this ocean, we have a vast exclusive economic zone of 900,000 square km. Maldives is one of the countries with the biggest share of this ocean,” he told the media on his arrival from China after concluding the state visit, the first after assuming office in November last year.

“This ocean does not belong to a specific country. This (Indian) Ocean also belongs to all countries situated in it,” he said, in an apparent jibe at India.

“We aren’t in anyone’s backyard. We are an independent and sovereign state,” he was quoted as saying by the Maldives Sun Online portal.

India-Maldives Row

The Mayoral polls were held in the backdrop of derogatory comments posted by three deputy ministers of the Muizzu government against Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading to a diplomatic row with India. During his high-profile visit to China, Muizzu sought to align Maldives closer to Beijing.

Muizzu suspended the three ministers after their social media postings, which stirred concern in India and calls for a boycott by Indian tourists who ranked highest in numbers followed by Russia. Chinese tourists figured third.

(With PTI inputs)