MDP sweeps the mayoralties; PNC holds council seats by a thread
The opposition takes all five city mayoralties — including Male' — while the ruling party clings to a one-seat edge in the broader council count.
The Maldivian Democratic Party has won mayoralties in all five cities in Saturday's local council elections, the Election Commission confirmed late on Saturday night. Adam Azim was returned in Male'; Ali Nizar took Addu; Saudh Ali won Thinadhoo.
The ruling People's National Congress kept a wafer-thin lead in the overall council-seat count, finishing on 246 to the MDP's 247 across 498 reported seats — a distribution that leaves no clear winner at the island level.
The two results taken together suggest an electorate that has chosen to divide responsibility rather than confer a single mandate.
More from Politics
Cabinet appointments to require minimum qualifications, Muizzu says
Political hiring in the executive will be scaled back in favour of published qualification criteria and open recruitment.
Muizzu pledges an AI regulation bill in the next Majlis session
The president names artificial intelligence as one of four priority areas for legislation in the second half of the year.
Muizzu cuts his cabinet from twenty ministries to fifteen
Ten ministers resign — almost half the cabinet — as the president restructures the executive ten days after a bruising referendum loss.
Women's Development Committee vote mirrors the national swing
In 226 WDC seats with reported results, PNC took 100 to MDP's 83 — a narrower margin than the party had grown used to.