The Maldives election commission has released the official results of last week’s presidential election, confirming victory for opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

The commission announced Saturday that Solih received 58.4 percent of the votes, while current President Abdulla Yameen garnered 41.6 percent.

The commission had released provisional results Monday, but was legally bound to release official results within seven days of the election.  Voters went to the polls Sunday.

“We received a lot of threats to delay the announcement following baseless accusations,” said election commission chief Ahmed Shareef. “There were more than 400 complaints, but none of them were deemed to have changed the outcome.”

Sunday’s vote was widely seen as a referendum on whether democracy would survive in the country as Yameen had rolled back many of the democratic freedoms introduced to the nation.

Police conducted a raid on the Solih’s campaign office the day before the election, saying that they wanted to stop “illegal activities.”

Hamid Abdul Gafoor, an opposition spokesman and a former Maldives lawmaker, said the raid was seen by many as a troubling omen that Yameen was about to “muzzle his way” to re-election.

Yameen was seeking a second five-year term in office. His path to re-election seemed assured with his main rivals either in jail or in exile. He imposed a state of emergency earlier this year after refusing to comply with a Supreme Court order to release detained political leaders.

Maldives is an archipelago of more than 1,000 islands and atolls in the Indian Ocean and is known for its sandy white beaches and luxury resorts.

 
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