Opposition Candidate Declares Surprise Victory in Maldives

Opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has declared victory in the presidential elections in the Maldives.

Solih's win, announced early Monday in the capital Male, was unexpected as the opposition had feared the election would be rigged in favor of President Abdullah Yameen

Yameen was seeking a second five-year term in office. He appeared to have predetermined his victory by jailing his rivals or driving them into in exile. He imposed a state of emergency earlier this year after refusing to comply with a Supreme Court order to release detained political leaders.

Solih, the former parliament majority leader, became the Maldivian Democratic Party's presidential candidate by process of elimination after Yameen's purges of rivals.

Despite strong opposition to Yameen's authoritarian rule, even veteran politicians were skeptical of what would happen during Sunday's vote.

"Mathematically, it is not possible for Yameen to win because all opposition parties are united against him," said Mohamed Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically elected president. "The results they will announce will be different to what is actually in the ballot boxes."

Nasheed was elected president in the Maldives' first multiparty election in 2008, but he resigned in 2012 amid a military takeover. He lost the 2013 presidential race to Yameen, and was then tried and convicted of terrorism charges in a trial criticized by human rights activists. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, but later granted medical leave last year to travel to Britain, where he was granted asylum.

Maldives is an archipelago of more than 1,000 islands. More than one-third of its 400,000 citizens live in Male. Tourism dominates the economy, with wealthy foreigners flown directly to ultra-expensive resort islands.