WINNING THE WoT:

While the opposition painted Sunday's election as a final stand to preserve the Maldives' nascent democracy -- just a decade old -- the vote was also seen as a critical referendum at a time when the archipelago nation has been caught between the influence of China, on one hand, and India and the West on the other.

[M]r. Solih's win will probably not roll back Chinese influence here. India and the United States have been unable to match China's spending across South Asia as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, which Beijing says will secure commercial interests but which skeptics say will also expand its global military footprint.

Instead, Mr. Solih has signaled that he will try to hedge between global powers and restore the warm ties the country once shared with India, which has watched China's rise in the region with concern. In the past, the opposition leader has promised to strengthen relations with neighboring countries to preserve security in the Indian Ocean.

On Sunday, voters turned out in vast numbers, forming long lines requiring hours of wait time.

The streets of Malé, the capital island, were adorned with flags and banners of pink and yellow, the colors of the governing and opposition parties. The election had an almost carnival-like atmosphere, with voters exiting polling sites to take selfies and posing for pictures showing their fingers dipped in ink.

"I think we are still voting for freedom, to get freedom," said Hussain Rasheed, a 53-year-old diver, as he proudly displayed a finger stained with voting ink outside a polling center. "We can't get justice without freedom. In hundreds of years of this country, we haven't really got justice."

But the nation held its breath on Monday, waiting for Mr. Yameen to concede defeat. In the 2013 presidential election, the Supreme Court stepped in to annul the first round and then delayed later rounds. Many have worried this time that Mr. Yameen might put pressure on the judiciary to do it again, or to use security forces to declare military rule.

Still, such a clear and publicly announced defeat could make it difficult for Mr. Yameen to sway the military, especially given that the jailed former president and opposition figure Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is said to still command respect within the security forces.

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