The Maldives' military chief has quashed speculation that outgoing President Abdulla Yameen would try to cling on to power, telling the nation that the armed forces would "protect the will of the people". Yameen decisively lost the country's Sunday presidential election to opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, despite warnings from private poll monitors that the electoral process had been rigged in favour of the incumbent.

Formal poll results will be announced by the election commission on Sunday and Yameen must hand over power to Solih on November 17 at the end of his five-year term. But rumours have abounded on social media and elsewhere that Yameen could file an election petition seeking the delay of the announcement, prompting military chief Major General Ahmed Shiyam to appear on a private TV channel promising the results would be honoured.