Male' City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu says although MDP candidate Mohamed Rashid had won the Komandoo seat in the by-election yesterday, the MDP-led government should be embarrassed by the victory.
Rashid secured the victory after winning 48.5 percent of the votes which amounts to 1,401. His closest competitor, Moosa Fathuhee from PPM won 1,161 votes in the election.
Abdul Hannan who competed for Maldives National Party MNP received 11 percent of the votes which amounted to 323 votes.
At a news conference held by PPM last night, Mayor Muizzu aimed harsh criticism at the government despite the win for MDP.
He described the election as a victory for PPM and said that former President Abdullah Yameen faced the might of the government and India on his own.
The Mayor said that the Indian embassy here in the Maldives had also issued a statement campaigning for Rashid but the statement had disappeared shortly after.
Muizzu said that the government had started to pour millions into the constituency and that yesterday's result cannot be seen as a victory for the MDP-led government. He added that it was a victory for PPM and the nation as a whole.
Meanwhile, MNP Vice President and Chairman of Cyryx College Ahmed Shareef said that 2885 votes cast in yesterday's election prove that the support for the coalition government is waning and that the support for the opposition is on the rise.
While 3,309 people were eligible to vote in yesterday's elections, 2,932 cast their ballots, and out of those 47 turned out to be invalid votes.
The voter turnout for Saturday's election was at 88 percent.
