Maldives votes in shadow of India-China rivalry
Male, Maldives: Voting got under way in the Maldives Sunday in a parliamentary election likely to test President Mohamed Muizzus tilt towards China and away from India, the luxury tourism hotspots traditional benefactor.
Among the first to vote was Muizzu, 45, who cast his ballot at the Tajuddin school in the capital Male. Election chief Fuad Thaufeeq urged the 284,663 eligible voters to cast their ballots early. Polling stations across the archipelago will be open for nine and a half hours.
Primarily known as one of the most expensive holiday destinations in South Asia, with pristine white beaches and secluded resorts, the atoll nation has also become a geopolitical hotspot in the Indian Ocean. Global east-west shipping lanes pass the nations chain of 1,192 tiny coral islands, which stretch around 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator.
Muizzu won last Septembers presidential poll as a proxy for pro-China ex-president Abdulla Yameen, freed last week after a court set aside his 11-year jail term for corruption. This month, as campaigning for the parliamentary elections was in full swing, Muizzu awarded high-profile infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies. His administration is also in the process of sending home a garrison of 89 Indian troops who operate reconnaissance aircraft gifted by New Delhi to patrol the Maldives vast maritime borders.
