COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won the Maldives' presidential election, results showed Monday, a surprise defeat for President Abdulla Yameen following a campaign observers said was rigged in the strongman's favour. Results released by the Elections Commission early Monday morning showed Solih had secured 58.3 percent of the popular vote. Celebrations broke out across the tropical archipelago with opposition supporters carrying yellow flags of Solih's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and dancing on the streets. Yameen voted minutes after polling booths opened in the capital Male, where opposition campaign efforts had been frustrated by a media crackdown and police harassment. The crackdown attracted international censure and fears the Maldives was slipping back into one-man rule just a decade after transitioning to democracy.

Source: Philippine Star September 23, 2018 23:48 UTC