IPU congratulates President-elect Solih, calls to confirm results as soon as possible

The global organization of national parliaments, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has congratulated President-elect of the Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih who had, according to the preliminary results announced on the day of the election, triumphed over President Abdulla Yameen who was vying for re-election for a second term.

In a statement released on Wednesday, IPU had called to confirm and announce the final results as soon as possible and for authorities to respect the “will of the people”.

The results on Sunday showed that Solih won with 58 percent, leading the votes with 134,616 votes which is the highest a candidate has received in a presidential election in the country, while President Yameen came behind with 41.7 percent of the votes.

The union also revealed that they have been following the undue interference in the Parliament closely and that the IPU had in August 2017, strongly condemned a military lockdown of the parliament as well as the imprisonment of other human rights violations on opposition-aligned Members of Parliament.

“The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians has been lobbying intensively over the years to defend the human rights of a number of prominent opposition MPs, including Ibrahim Mohamed Solih” reads the statement issued by the union on Wednesday.

Gabriela Cuevas, IPU President, said “I salute the peaceful conduct of the elections and the outgoing President’s pledge to ensure a smooth transition of power. As the world’s organization of parliaments, we are looking forward to working with Mr Solih and the People’s Majlis to help build a more constructive relationship between the presidency, the parliament and the judiciary, and to create a better mutual understanding of the respective roles of each institution.”

IPU’s Secretary General, Martin Chungong had also congratulated Solih “wholeheartedly” oh his election as Maldives new President following Sunday’s polls.