Maldives: President Muizzu’s party sweeps parliamentary election

President Mohamed Muizzu’s People's National Congress (PNC) party won the Maldives parliamentary election on Sunday. 

According to the Election Commission, PNC bagged 66 of the first 86 declared, which is more than enough for a super-majority in the 93-member parliament.

The elections remained crucial as both India and China were closely watching the polls amid diplomatic tensions with New Delhi.

Voting for the 20th People's Majlis was conducted on Sunday from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm local time. 

Election officials sealed the ballot boxes across the country as voting hours ended at 5:30 pm.

According to the Elections Commission (EC), a voter turnout of 72.96 per cent was recorded.

A total of 284,663 people were eligible to vote.

A total of 602 ballot boxes were set up in the Maldives and three other countries for the parliamentary election.

Ballot boxes were also placed in Thiruvananthapuram in India, Colombo in Sri Lanka and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, psmnews.mv reported.

Parliamentarians will be elected to a total of 93 constituencies, with 368 candidates contesting from six parties, including Muizzu's People's National Congress (PNC), the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and 130 independents.

PNC was followed by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) with over 10 seats. 

Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) won two seats, while the Jumhooree Party (JP) got one.

While Independents bagged 9 seats so far.

This election is considered crucial for Muizzu as he is seen as a pro-China politician.

Ahead of the polls, the opposition parties demanded a probe and sought impeachment of the president for alleged corruption from 2018.

While casting the vote, Muizzu urged every citizen to exercise their right to vote.

Amid tensions with the Maldives, India was forced to withdraw most of its military personnel manning three aviation platforms in the country. 

The Maldives is India's key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).