Maldives: President Gayoom faces runoff (updated)

UPDATES: Voting in the Maldives first multi-party presidential election has gone to a second round after President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom failed to win outright.  Mr Gayoom secured 41% of votes cast, while Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) leader Mohamed Nasheed came second with 25%. Four others were knocked out.   The two men will contest a run-off vote within 10 days.

 

The president of the Maldives has the lead in the country's first democratic presidential election but appears to be short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff, preliminary results have shown. With about two-thirds of the ballots counted, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom had taken just under 40 per cent of Thursday's vote, the country's electoral commission said.  Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed, his nearest rival and a former political prisoner, had about 26 per cent of the vote, the commission said. Voting at some polling stations had been extended to allow the people queueing to cast their ballot after the original deadline passed.  Gayoom, who leads the Dhivehi Rahyithunge Party (DRP), has presided over the Maldives since 1978. He had allowed the presidential election to go ahead after pro-democracy protests and pressure from other nations, marking a sea change in Maldivian politics. At one time it was illegal to criticise Gayoom.  Voice of Maldives radio and the independent Minivannews.com website cited unofficial results which suggest that Gayoom and Nasheed will go into a run-off election.

Opposition challenge

Hassan Saeed, an Islamic scholar and former attorney-general, and Ghaseem Ibrahim, a businessman, are close behind Nasheed in the vote, according to preliminary results. The final results are expected later on Thursday.  Gayoom could face a strong challenge from Nasheed in a run-off vote if supporters of the other opposition candidates lend him their allegiance, analysts have said.  "If we do force Gayoom into a second round, then he will be in serious trouble," a spokesman for Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said.  Before the election, the MDP had accused Gayoom of trying to rig the poll and secure a first-round win.  The party had concentrated its campaign in the capital, Male, while Gayoom had toured the country's outlying atolls in an attempt to secure support from conservative voters.  Although the nation is the richest per head of population in south Asia, it faces a housing shortage, rising crime and drug abuse.  Gayoom has said that he is the only individual who can implement changes across the country, but opposition parties have accused him of using corruption and strong-arm tactics to maintain his rule. Highlighting the differences between Gayoom and the opposition, he has taken legal action against two opposition politicians who say that he stole $40m of tsunami aid.