The Guardian-Maldives vote runoff for presidency begins in shadow of India-China tussle for influence
September 30, 2023 2 min 396 words
这篇报道描绘了马尔代夫总统选举的紧张局势，明确指出这次选举将决定马尔代夫未来走向：是继续与印度合作，还是倾向中国的影响力。这实际上是一场关于地缘政治的角力，反映在选举中。 当前总统伊布拉欣·穆罕默德·索利赫面临巨大挑战，他在上一届任期中重建了与新德里的关系，马尔代夫传统的支持者。然而，领先的候选人穆罕默德·穆伊兹承诺加强与北京的关系，并表示如果当选，将重新审视与印度的关系。穆伊兹在本月早些时候的首轮投票中获得46%的选票，领先索利赫七个百分点，但两者之间的差距仅有不到1.5万张选票，因此选情非常胶着。 马尔代夫被广泛看作是印度和中国争夺影响力的试金石，因此这次选举被视为是否将继续与中国合作的一次公投。马尔代夫位于印度洋中心，跨越世界上最繁忙的东西方航运航线之一，这使其地理位置极为重要。 这场选举也反映了马尔代夫民众对于如何应对中国的"一带一路"基础设施计划的不同看法。尽管索利赫批评前总统亚明将国家推向中国债务陷阱，但他的传统立场同样备受争议，因为许多马尔代夫人不满印度在政治和经济领域的巨大影响力。 总的来说，这次选举将对马尔代夫的未来产生深远影响，不仅决定了国家的地缘政治走向，还涉及到国内政治和经济政策的重大变革。结果将受到国际社会密切关注，因为这关系到印度洋地区的地缘政治平衡。
The Maldives started voting on Saturday to decide their next president, in an elections widely seen as a referendum on whether to hitch their fortunes to China or India, both vying for influence in the island nation.
Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, 61, faces an uphill battle to secure a second mandate after a term that saw renewed ties with New Delhi, the archipelago’s traditional benefactor.
Frontrunner Mohamed Muizzu, 45, has vowed closer ties with Beijing and a review of relations with India if he is elected.
Muizzu won 46% of the first-round vote earlier this month, seven points clear of Solih, but the contest remains on a knife’s edge, with barely 15,000 votes between the pair.
People began lining up across the country, best known for its luxury beach resorts and celebrity tourists, to cast their ballots before voting began at 8am.
“Queues formed long before polling opened,” said an election official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media. “The Elections Commission is encouraging people to vote early.”
Just over 282,000 people are eligible to vote before polls close at 5pm, with results expected late Saturday or early Sunday.
The Maldives sits in a strategically vital position in the middle of the Indian Ocean, astride one of the world’s busiest east-west shipping lanes.
Muizzu’s party moved into Beijing’s orbit when last in power and was an eager recipient of financial largesse from China’s Belt and Road infrastructure program.
His mentor, former president Abdulla Yameen, borrowed heavily from China for construction projects and spurned India.
Solih was elected in 2018 on the back of discontent with the increasingly autocratic rule by Yameen, who he accused of pushing the country into a Chinese debt trap by borrowing heavily for infrastructure.
But his restoration of the Maldives’ traditional posture has itself proved controversial, with many in the archipelago disapproving of India’s outsized political and economic clout.
If elected, Muizzu has vowed to free his mentor Yameen, currently serving an 11-year sentence for corruption on the same prison island where he had jailed many of his political opponents during his tenure.