With votes still being tallied, local news organizations reported that Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the opposition candidate, had beaten President Abdulla Yameen. Solih won 58 per cent of the vote with about 97 per cent of ballots counted, according to the independent news website mihaaru.com. Transparency Maldives, an election watchdog, said he had won “by a decisive margin.”Maldives' opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, left, and his running mate, Faisal Naseem, leave after addressing media in Male, Maldives, Sept. 24. A longtime but little-known lawmaker, Solih declared victory at his party's campaign headquarters in a contentious election widely seen as a referendum on the island nation's young democracy. His campaign had yet to concede by early Monday morning, and a spokesman for the Maldives’ Election Commission said official results would not be announced for a week, according to Reuters.

Source: thestar September 24, 2018 00:33 UTC