Mohamed Muizzu is the president-elect of the Maldives after he defeated the incumbent, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, in the September 2023 presidential elections.
Muizzu, a candidate for the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), won over 54% of the votes in the second and the final run-off for the polls, which was viewed by many observers as a test for the country’s connections with China and India.
The Maldives has long been under India’s sphere of influence. Maintaining its presence there gives Delhi the ability to monitor a key part of the Indian Ocean.
Muizzu is seen as a supporter of China’s interests in the country. Both India and China are trying to strengthen their presence in the strategically located islands which straddle busy east-west shipping lanes.
China, with its rapidly expanding naval forces, would want access to such a strategically important location – something India wants to prevent. Beijing is also keen to protect its energy supplies from the Gulf which pass through that route.
Both Delhi and Beijing have given the Maldives hundreds of millions of dollars in the form of loans and grants for infrastructure and development projects.
President Solih had taken the Maldives back into the Commonwealth, and his party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in 2019.