(23 Sep 2018) Maldives opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih declared victory on Monday in the country's election, calling it a moment of "happiness, hope and history."
Speaking during his victory speech at the Maldivian Democratic Party campaign headquarters in the capital of Male, Solih urged calm until the commission had announced the results.
President Yameen Abdul Gayoom's campaign did not concede the race, and no one from the campaign could immediately be reached for comment.
A spokesman for Maldives' Election Commission said official results would not be announced for a week, the period reserved for parties to challenge the results in court.
Supporters draped in the Maldivian flag flooded the streets, hugging one another, cheering and honking horns to celebrate Solih's victory.
Solih had 58.3 percent of the vote, with nearly 92 percent of ballots counted just after midnight on Monday, according to independent newspaper website mihaaru.com.
More than 260,000 of the Maldives' 400,000 people were eligible to vote at about 400 polling stations across the approximately 1,200 islands that comprise the Indian Ocean archipelago.
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