Ruling MDP Loses Ground in Male', Dr Muizz Wins Mayoral Race

Dr. Mohamed Muizz has won the mayoral race for Male' City. He represents the opposition coalition of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the People's National Congress (PNC). Dr.Muizzu is the deputy leader of PPM and served as the Minister of Housing in the Yameen administration and in the Waheed administration.

Provisional results show that Dr.Muizzu won more than 61.47% of the votes, meanwhile ruling party Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) Anas Abdul Sattar secured 36.82 percent of the votes.

Anas conceded defeat in a statement released via Twitter last night. "People of Male have spoken", he wrote. "I accept the outcome of the election results and congratulate [Dr Muizz] on his victory".

Dr Muizz's victory marks the first time the MDP has lost its majority support in Male City since the party's inception. The opposition coalition had also won several other council seats within Male City in yesterday's election.

Dr Muizz will be the first non-MDP mayor of the Male City Council.

Speaking to the press last night, mayor-elect Dr. Muizz said that the Male' City Council would become an institution that "gets results for the people of Male'". He said that he would remember that he was elected not only by opposition supporters but by members of the ruling MDP and also by voters who belonged to no political party. He promised that the Council would serve the public fairly and impartially.

Majlis Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, also the leader of the MDP, congratulated Dr. Muizzu via a tweet this morning. He said that he hoped that mayor-elect Dr. Muizz would "work hard" to fix the problems of Male'. He promised that he would extend his co-operation to Dr. Muizz.