Maldives' electoral watchdog early Monday hailed the presidential elections as the most peaceful and free and fair elections the country has witnessed.
Just a little over a quarter million people in the tropical island nation voted on Sunday in an election amid mounting international concerns for a lack of transparency and suppression of government critics.
Despite the concerns, polling continued smoothly with isolated reports of issues with the polling process while there were no reports of violence which was duly noted by elections chief Ahmed Shareef as he addressed local reporters.
"Now will continue to announce preliminary results while we get ready to announce the official results by Sunday," Shareef said.
Shareef also expressed gratitude to the people, observers and monitors for ensuring a smooth, free and fair elections.
Maldives has been embroiled in political turmoil in recent years as president Yameen jailed all of his political rivals as the government muzzled local media and heavily restricted fundamental constitutional rights and freedom of expression with a series of contentious laws.
In February the Supreme Court quashed the convictions of nine opposition figures, among them exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed, who was ousted from office in 2012.
But after President Yameen declared a state of emergency and ordered the arrest of two judges, the court reversed its decision soon after.
The election widely regarded more as a referendum than an election saw incumbent president Yameen seeking re-election go against the veteran lawmaker Solih.
Throughout Sunday, Solih maintained a healthy lead but pulled well clear as Yameen lost key electorates despite significant pledges of development in the next five years.
With only a handful of ballot boxes left to be counted, preliminary results show Solih leading with over 121,000 votes leaving Yameen in his wake who managed to secure just over 86,000 votes.
Neither the ruling party nor president Yameen is however yet to admit defeat with only the chief government lawmaker Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik hinting that the ruling party would accept the outcome of the elections.
