Maldives President Solih to run again after winning primary

MALE, Maldives (AP) — Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has won a party primary and will run for a second term in September elections. Solih defeated Mohamed Nasheed, the current parliament speaker and a former president, in the Maldivian Democratic Party primary held Saturday night. Nasheed played a key role in transforming the Indian Ocean archipelago state into a multiparty democracy after a 30-year autocracy. He escaped an assassination attempt allegedly by a local group sympathetic to the Islamic State in 2021. Solih is the only one running for president so far. His main rival, former President Abdulla Yameen, is serving a prison term on charges of corruption and money laundering.