New Maldives president must hold together diverse coalition

Veteran Maldives lawmaker Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

overcame the detention and exile of key opposition figures to win a weekend presidential poll and unseat incumbent Abdulla Yameen , but now faces the task of holding together a disparate coalition .

The Maldives

, a string of palm-fringed islands and atolls 325 miles (523 kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of India, is best known as a luxury holiday destination .

But the Muslim nation of fewer than half a million has suffered a turbulent transition to democracy since the end of three decades of authoritarian rule in 2008 .

The victory of Solih , who is known as a reformer , dislodges Yameen , a hardliner who had cultivated ties with both Beijing and Saudi Arabia , and cracked down on threats to his rule, even jailing his own half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom .

But Solih, who is expected to be sworn in on November 17 , must now keep together a coalition that includes two fierce rivals, Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed , both former presidents.

Also part of the unlikely alliance , held together by a pro-Islam religious agenda, are business tycoon Qasim Ibrahim’s Jumhooree Party and the Islamist Adhaalath Party , which formed a coalition that led to the downfall of Gayoon in 2013 .

“For the president-elect, ensuring a smooth transition and then selecting an all-acceptable, multi-party Cabinet would be the first priority,” said N Sathiya Moorthy , an analyst at Indian think tank the Observer Research Foundation .

“He would have to facilitate the return home of both Nasheed and Qasim Ibrahim , who are in self-exile.”

sg