![\"Maldives](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2024-01\/c1nt5v2g_mohamed-muizzu_625x300_09_January_24.jpg\"\/ "\\"Maldives")
<\/div>\nMaldivian Democratic Party candidate was elected as new Male mayor, a post held by Mohamed Muizzu earlier<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Male: <\/b><\/p>\n
In a setback to Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, pro-India opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on Saturday secured a landslide victory in the capital Male’s Mayoral election.<\/p>\n
The MDP candidate, Adam Azim, has been elected as the new mayor of Male, a post held by Muizzu<\/a> till recently. Muizzu resigned from the position to contest the presidential elections last year.<\/p>\n The Maldives media reported Azim’s win as a “landslide” and “victory by a large margin”.<\/p>\n The MDP is headed by pro-India former president Mohammad Solih, who was defeated by Muizzu, a pro-China leader, in the presidential elections.<\/p>\n With 41 boxes counted, Azim has taken a huge lead with 5,303 votes. His rival Aishath Azima Shakoor of Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) got 3,301 votes, Maldives’ Sun Online news portal reported.<\/p>\n The poll was marked by a low turnout, according to reports.<\/p>\n The Mayoral election victory is expected to revive the political fortunes of the MDP, which still holds a majority in the Parliament.<\/p>\n Muizzu returned to Male on Saturday after a five-day state visit to China.<\/p>\n The Mayoral polls were held in the backdrop of derogatory comments posted by three deputy ministers of the Muizzu government against Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading to a diplomatic row with India<\/a>. During his high-profile visit to China, Muizzu sought to align Maldives closer to Beijing.<\/p>\n Muizzu suspended the three ministers after their social media postings, which stirred concern in India and calls for a boycott by Indian tourists who ranked highest in numbers followed by Russia. Chinese tourists figured third.\u00a0<\/p>\n (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n