Maldives votes in first democratic elections

Male, Maldives: Thousands of voters waited in serpentine queues in pouring rain yesterday to vote in the Maldives' first democratic presidential election, even as opposition officials complained of widespread voting irregularities.

The election has been seen as a referendum on President Mamoun Abdul Gayoom, Asia's longest-serving ruler, who won six previous polls as the only candidate on the ballot.

"We need a change now. Thirty years is a very long time, the whole nation wants a change," Abdullah Samad, a 49-year-old businessman, said, referring to Gayoom's three-decade tenure.

But opposition officials reported widespread problems at polling stations across this nation of 1,190 islands scattered in the Indian Ocean. Large numbers of opposition supporters found their names missing from the voting rolls and on at least one resort island, none of the workers were registered, despite submitting their registration papers, said Ahmad Shaheed, a Vice-Presidential candidate.

"It's a disaster," he said. "I think there is deliberate tampering." A Commonwealth observer mission will issue a report on the election.

Mariya Didi, chairwoman of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party, went to vote at her usual polling station only to find that she and her 10 brothers and sisters were not on the voting list. After waiting for hours, demanding she be allowed to vote, she was told that her registration had been moved to another station.

Faida Farouk, a spokeswoman for Gayoom's party, said: "Certainly because it is our first multiparty election, we are experiencing a lot of teething problems," she said.

Gayoom's major opponents in the six-man race included Mohammad Nasheed, the charismatic leader of the MDP, and Hassan Saeed, a reform-minded former attorney general. If no one wins an outright majority, the two candidates who win the most votes will face off in a second election.