COLOMBO -- The Maldives' incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is in the pole position heading into an election on Saturday, as he seeks to become the first leader of the nascent democracy to win back-to-back races in the strategically located Indian Ocean archipelago.
The soft-spoken Solih -- whose pro-India leanings shaped his inaugural term and marked a strategic shift from the pro-China tilt of his predecessor -- has been wooing Maldivian voters in constituencies beyond Male, according to South Asia diplomatic sources based in the capital. "Solih has been assiduously working to drum up support in the islands with many new development projects being announced or already underway," a veteran envoy told Nikkei Asia.
