Maldives President-elect Mohamed Muizzu has said that he will stick to his election promise of removing foreign military presence from the country, reported the Associated Press on Tuesday.
In his first public rally as the president on Monday, Muizzu said that the citizens of Maldives have told him that they do not want foreign military staying in their country.
The move bears significance for India as it is the only foreign power with a military presence in the archipelago. It is of strategic importance to New Delhi amid its geopolitical competition with China in the Indian Ocean region.
Muizzu, seen as pro-Chinese, had accused outgoing President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of allowing India to have an unchecked presence in the country.
Solih had stated that the Indian military was present in Maldives under an agreement between the two governments to build a dockyard. According to AFP, he rebuilt his country’s relationship with India after his predecessor Abdulla Yameen made Maldives a part of China’s Belt and Road initiative.
Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives had led the India Out political campaign in recent years.
Muizzu is said to be a proxy of Yameen. He was elected the next president of the Maldives after winning around 56% of the votes in the second round of the elections on Saturday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first world leaders to congratulate him. “India remains committed to strengthening the time-tested India-Maldives bilateral relationship and enhancing our overall cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region,” Modi said on social media platform X.
China congratulated Muizzu on Monday and stated that it “is willing to work with the Maldives to consolidate the traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and push for continuous new progress”.
Observers have told Scroll in the run-up to the Maldivian presidential elections that Muizzu’s victory will not be the best outcome for India in terms of maintaining its strategic influence over Malé.
Also Read:Why the Maldivian presidential polls might throw up a result that hurts Indian interests
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