President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s win in the Presidential ballots held on the 23rd of September was “decisive one” and there is no doubt about who won this election, says Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Department of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Alice Wells.

Wells had stated this in an exclusive interview she had given to privately-run television station RaajjeTV on Wednesday, during her one-day official visit to the country.

Wells, who was appointed to the post at the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs last year, was welcomed at the Velana international Airport by Secretary Bilateral Ahmed Khaleel upon her arrival on Tuesday.

While a constitutional challenge was filed at the Supreme Court regarding the Presidential Election, on Wednesday, when asked about her insight on the matter, Wells responded that although she had not seen the challenge itself and it’s hard for her to comment on it, she could assert that this was a “decisive victory” for the opposition.

US SCA Chief further said that President Yameen “did the right thing the next day by acknowledging his loss and for saying that he will be a responsible opposition candidate’. She also highlighted that the military and the police did the right thing as well by not intervening but supporting the process.

“The electoral commission has certified the results, I don’t think there is any doubt about who won this election and we certainly look forward to working with the incoming President, Solih” said Wells.

Highlighting that the victory was not a one percent or two percent victory, she said   that this reminds all that “people matter’, Wells emphasized that that the results show that the people were either dissatisfied with the “level of corruption” or “institutional weakness” they saw.

She also added that the US expects President Yameen to “respect the voice” of his citizens.

Expressing her hope that this outcome will “increase prosperity” for all Maldivians, Wells congratulated the people on a “democratic experiment”, well conducted

She also spoke on America’s various concerns over the worsening human rights conditions in the country, Wells stated that the statements of concerns brought out “a positive outcome”.

“I think we owe it to the people of the Maldives and the government of the Maldives. We normally saw some of the steps that were being taken which we thought unfairly shaped the electoral environment was the process of re-registration, the reduction of ballot boxes the raid on the opposition headquarters. We wanted to express that we would take appropriate measures against those who thought willfully tried to derail democracy in the Maldives” said the US SCA Chief.

Expressing her satisfaction with her visit to the Maldives, Wells stated that the US is ready to work with the new government and that they would like to work with the Maldivian People. 

Regarding her “successful” visit to the Maldives, Ambassador Wells said, “It’s one thing to read the papers, to hear an analyst talk about the Maldives and it’s another thing to be here to sense the excitement and the expectations of the people of the Maldives so I’ve left with a lot of information and a real commitment and passion to work with the incoming government I think there is so much that we can do together”.