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Maldives gears up for first democratic election
The Maldives holds its first multiparty president election on Wednesday, in a vote seen as a referendum on President's Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's 30 year-rule on islands famed for their luxury resorts.
- Agencies
- Published: 09:27 October 8, 2008
Male: The Maldives holds its first multiparty president election on Wednesday, in a vote seen as a referendum on President's Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's 30 year-rule on islands famed for their luxury resorts.
Asia's longest-serving leader is seeking a seventh term running the archipelago of 300,000 mostly Sunni Muslims, which in the past he has been accused of ruling like a personal sultanate – a form of government abolished there in 1968.
The poll in the Maldives, best known as a tropical luxury hideaway for Hollywood stars, is the culmination of years of agitation for democratic reforms which Gayoom, 71, finally signed into law in August.
"No one thought we could have a multi-party election here, until we introduced the reform agenda," Gayoom said at a news conference on the eve of the vote.
Despite some fears of rigging and minor threats against political figures earlier this week, the archipelago of 1,196 islands located 800 km (500 miles) off the tip of India was mostly calm after campaigns finished on Tuesday night.
The election starts on Wednesday morning at nearly 400 polling stations spread out across the archipelago's 200 inhabited atolls and on some islands with luxury resorts.
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