The People's National Congress (PNC) won a landslide victory in the Maldives' general elections held on Sunday (Apr. 21), with the country's Elections Commission announcing the party claimed 66 of the first 86 seats declared, already more than enough for a two-thirds supermajority in the 93-member five-year term parliament.
The PNC is the party of pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu, who has recently signed a military agreement with Beijing in an apparent move away from traditional benefactor India.
Agence France Presse reported that the vote was seen as a crucial test for Muizzu's plan to press ahead with closer economic cooperation with China, including building thousands of apartments on controversially reclaimed land.
The Maldives is known as a top luxury holiday destination thanks to its pristine white beaches and secluded resorts. In recent years, however, it has also become a geopolitical hotspot in the Indian Ocean, where global east-west shipping lanes pass the archipelago.
In September, Muizzu won the presidential election as a stand-in for pro-China ex-president Abdulla Yameen, who was freed last week after a court set aside his 11-year jail term for corruption.
Muizzu also awarded high-profile infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies during the campaign.
His administration also sends home a garrison of 89 Indian troops who operate reconnaissance aircraft gifted by New Delhi to patrol the Maldives' vast maritime borders.
On the other hand, the pro-India Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which previously had a supermajority, was headed for a humiliating defeat with just 15 seats.
The party had sought to disrupt Muizzu's efforts to realign Maldivian diplomacy, such as blocking three of the president's nominees to the cabinet and refusing some of his spending proposals.
The Maldives, a low-lying nation of about 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered 800 kilometers across the equator, is one of the countries most vulnerable to sea level rises caused by global warming.
Muizzu, a former construction minister, has promised to beat back the waves through ambitious land reclamation and building islands higher, a policy that environmentalists argue could exacerbate flooding risks.
His post as president is not affected by Sunday's vote.
