MALE, Maldives — The Maldives’ parliament has overwhelmingly voted the country’s first democratically elected president as the speaker of the house. Mohamed Nasheed received 67 votes from among 87 members. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party has swept the parliamentary elections, winning 65 out of 87 seats. Nasheed, a former pro-democracy activist was elected president of the Indian Ocean archipelago in 2008, ending a 30-year autocratic government. Nasheed and other politicians jailed under Yameen’s government were released after Solih was elected to office while others returned from exile.

Source: National Post May 29, 2019 02:26 UTC