Yameen concedes defeat and says he’ll hand over power to Solih on November 17
In an address to the nation, Yameen said that he will continue to serve the people even after demitting office.
According to The Edition, Yameen “apologized” to the nation and stated that he will step aside on November 17. He assured that the transition of government will take place smoothly and urged everyone to maintain peace.
Dr Abdulla Khaleel, Secretary General of Yameen’s Progressive Party of the Maldives congratulated the opposition coalition’s candidate Solih and his running mate Faisal Naseem.
President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (Ibu) met President Yameen in the morning. However, the joint press conference which was to have been held after the meeting did not take place.
Solih went to the President’s Office upon President Yameen’s invitation, The Edition said.
Earlier the Elections Commission of Maldives announced provisional results of the election. It said that the official results will be out by September 30.
The candidate of the Maldivian Democratic Party, Member of Parliament Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, won the election, having received 134,616 votes.
Candidate of the Progressive Party of the Maldives, incumbent President Abdulla Yameen Abdulla Gayoom, received 96,132 votes.
Of 262,135 eligible voters in this election, 233,877 voters cast their votes at the 472 ballot boxes placed in the Maldives and in four countries abroad. There was a voter turnout of 89.22%.
“Voting proceeded smoothly, and peacefully, with no reported incidents. No major issues were reported in the vote counting process as well as with the voters list, which will affect the results.”
“Voting took place in the presence of a record number of representatives of candidates, observers and monitors. 945 representatives of candidates, 2610 local observers and international observers from 11 agencies, and 3329 local monitors and a number of international monitors were active in the election,” the Elections Commission said in a statement.
Official results will be announced within the next seven days, before 30 September 2018, it added.
“This was the third Presidential election held in the Maldives, following the adoption of the 2008 Constitution, which paved the way for multi-party democracy in the Maldives. The President and Vice-President, elected today, are expected to* be sworn in on 17 November 2018,” the statement added.
(The featured image at the top shows defeated President Yameen walking away from the rostrum after telling the people through TV that he accepts defeat and will hand over power to the President elect Solih on November 17)
