Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won a party primary and will run for a second term in September elections. Solih defeated Mohamed Nasheed, the parliament speaker and a former president, in the Maldivian Democratic Party primary held on Saturday night. Nasheed played a key role in transforming the Indian Ocean archipelago state into a multiparty democracy after a 30-year autocracy. But Solih was named the party’s presidential candidate in 2018 in place of the more charismatic Nasheed after he failed to qualify because of a prison sentence. Since being elected, Solih has largely stabilised the nation despite political upheaval. Nasheed was elected president in the country’s first multiparty election in 2008 but resigned in 2012 amid public protests. He contested for presidency again in 2013 and lost, and became disqualified for the race five years later.
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