President-elect can take office on Nov 11, if there’s no ‘legal obstacle’

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said the President-elect Dr. Mohamed Muizzu can take oath of office on November 11, if there’s no legal obstacle.

Preliminary results on the presidential election runoff on Saturday show the opposition PPM-PNC candidate Muizzu won 54 percent (129,159 votes), while MDP’s President Solih won 46 percent (109,868 votes).

President Solih conceded defeat and congratulated Muizzu shortly before midnight of Saturday, and met with Muizzu to discuss the transition of power on Sunday.

In his first press conference since the defeat on Monday, President Solih said he is working on arranging for the oath taking ceremony to be held on November 11, as he promised before taking office in 2018.

He said he was researching the legal obstacles that it could pose.

“The administration will change on that date, if there are no legal obstacles. We are checking whether there are any legal obstacles,” he said.

“Otherwise, the administration will change on November 11.”

November 11 had been the date for transition of administrations since 1965, until 2013, when the Supreme Court vacated the results of the first round of the presidential election. Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who went on to win the election, took office on November 17.

Presidential terms have been counted from November 17 since then.

President Solih had previously stated he would end his term on November 11.