HONG KONG — A political party led by the president of the Maldives appeared to have won decisively in parliamentary elections over the weekend, a result that may help him restore political freedoms in a strategically important country with an authoritarian past.

The president, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, had won a resounding victory in presidential elections last September. But parts of his party’s agenda have been stymied because some of its allies in a governing coalition are aligned with a former strongman leader, Abdulla Yameen, who has been widely accused of corruption and repression.

The Maldives, a chain of islands southwest of India, has traditionally fallen within New Delhi’s sphere of influence. Yet it also stretches across maritime routes that are crucial to China, and Beijing has recently spent hundreds of millions of dollars on infrastructure projects in the Maldives.

Critics have warned of the Maldives falling prey to “debt-trap diplomacy,” meaning that it could be pressured to offer security concessions to China as repayment for large loans. Some politicians, as well as Western and Indian diplomats, have warned that a growing dependence on China could be a threat to the country’s sovereignty.