Despite facing a second round run-off, Progressive Party of Maldives-People's National Congress (PPM-PNC) candidate Dr. Mohamed Muizzu secured a significant victory with the most votes in Saturday's presidential election.
Adhadhu's preliminary results from all 574 ballot boxes show Muizzu in the lead with 100,691 votes or 45 percent.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate, trailed behind with 85,260 votes or 38.2 percent.
With a gap of more than 15,000 votes between the top two candidates, Muizzu won the most votes in all regions - including the capital Male' and Kulhudhuffushi city - except President Solih's native Lhaviyani atoll and running mate Mohamed Aslam's Addu city.
Speaking to reporters late on Saturday night, Muizzu said the success was the hoped for outcome.
"Discussions will take place at the leadership. We wish for Maldivians to have the Maldives back," he said.
Muizzu thanked supporters and said that people came out to vote in a patriotic spirit.
"I thank the beloved Maldivian people very much for the support and trust in us. Today is really a happy day for me. In the face of various influences and restrictions, the Maldivian people came out in a national spirit and showed a very powerful example," Muizzu said.
The turnout on Saturday was 79 percent or 223,092 people out of 282,395 eligible voters.
None of the other candidates managed to win a majority of votes in any region. In both the 2008 and 2013, candidates other than the top two won significant number of votes.
In 2008, smaller parties and candidates such as Dr. Hassan Saeed and Qasim Ibrahim took 31 percent of the vote. In 2013, Qasim finished in third place with 23 percent.
But in this year's election, Democrats candidate Ilyas Labeeb came a distant third with 15,528 votes or 7 percent. Umar Naseer was in fourth spot with 2.8 percent (6,311 votes) followed by Qasim with 2.5 percent (5,469 votes).
