Explained: Why MDP’s victory in Maldives elections is good news for India

With the Nasheed-Solih duo being critical of China's policies, New Delhi will try to maximise its diplomatic leverage with the new Male.

President Ibrahim Solih and Mohamed Nasheed.

Mohamed Nasheed’s party MDP’s sweeping victory in Maldives parliamentary elections is good news for India. After President Ibrahim Solih won the Presidential elections, India was quick to welcome the results.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi even travelled to Solih’s inauguration in November last year, followed by the new Maldives President’s visit to India within one month of his swearing-in.

Last month, after the model code of conduct was in place, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj went to the Maldives and has made bilateral commitments – which signals Delhi’s commitment towards strengthening the relationship in the coming months, irrespective of the outcome of Indian elections.

Delhi, which has been at the receiving end of the former President Abdulla Yameen’s policies, has a positive relationship with the new ruling dispensation. And, with the Nasheed-Solih duo being critical of China’s policies, New Delhi will try to maximise its diplomatic leverage with the new Male.

Maldives has been caught in a battle for influence between India and China, which invested millions of dollars during Abdulla Yameen’s rule as part of its Belt and Road plan.

Addressing the supporters at the victory rally, President Solih reiterated his zero-tolerance policy for corruption. “This is the moment for all the citizens to work together in unity. We are ready to work together to fulfill the needs of the people and serve them, without any discrimination,” Solih said.

Shubhajit Roy

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More