ISAS Insights

In the presidential elections in Maldives in September 2018, there is a direct contest between the incumbent, Abdulla Yameen, and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih from the Maldivian Democratic Party. Since Yameen became the President of Maldives in 2013, the country has witnessed a series of clampdowns on political dissidents. Even some of his own party’s lawmakers, who have dared to take a different position, have not been spared by Yameen’s government. In the forthcoming elections, the significant issues are radical Islam versus a liberal order, restitution of democratic and political rights versus status quo, foreign businesses and investments in Maldives, and interference of foreign powers in the internal affairs of the country.