President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has won the main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s presidential primary.
President Solih went head to head with the party's President and Parliament Speaker, Mohamed Nasheed, in Saturday's primary. This is the first time in the Maldives' history that a sitting president contested a primary seeking re-election.
Both candidates ran strong campaigns in the month leading up to the election. In the primary, where 57,255 were eligible to vote, President Solih has so far received 19,096 votes, against Nasheed's 12,005 votes. President Solih received 61 percent of the votes.
During his campaign, President Solih said that the MDP would have a future in the Maldives' political arena by working with other parties in the country. He has repeatedly said that he will form a coalition with other parties, which he describes as the "winning formula" to continue MDP's rule.
In the primary, President Nasheed said President Solih failed to implement a "zero tolerance" policy against corruption, despite his pledge to do so. He said the current government failed to find a solution to corruption and the people's plights. He also said that the coalition government was an obstacle to implementing MDP ideology and pledged to establish an MDP-only government without a coalition.
Despite several challenges, President Solih's clear victory in Saturday's election wins him the Maldives' biggest political party's presidential ticket. He will contest the presidential election in September.
