Maldives president-elect proposes pay cut

Update: 2013-11-17 05:58 GMT
Hours after initial results showed that Abdulla Yameen had won Saturday's second round of presidential election, the candidate of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) said he would propose a pay cut due to the current plight of the country's economy.

Speaking during a press conference held with his coalition partners following the announcement of individual ballot box results, Yameen said he would propose cutting half of his salary to kick-start the economy, Xinhua reported.

The president-elect also said he would try to announce his cabinet, and specifically would appoint the economic minister Sunday.

He said the first order of business for his government would be to revise the budget for next year, and expressed hope that his opponents in the parliament would cooperate in his efforts to overcome the challenges faced by the country.

Initial results showed that from all 475 boxes counted, Yameen has received around 51.61 percent of the votes, and former president and candidate of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Mohamed Nasheed, has received around 48.39 percent of the votes.

Nasheed has conceded defeat at a press conference.
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