Maldives votes in first presidential election

  People in the Maldives are voting in the country's first democratic presidential elections, in which Asia's longest-serving president faces a challenge from a former political prisoner. Polling stations on the Indian ocean archipelago opened at 9am [0400 GMT] on Wednesday, pitting Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the president and leader of the Dhivehi Rahyithunge Party (DRP), against five challengers. Gayoom, who has been president for 30 years, agreed to move towards elections two years ago after a series of violent protests across the country.  Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed, founder of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, is the main rival to Gayoom in the election.

"Gayoom presents himself as a reformer, but he's changed colour like a chameleon," Nasheed said.

"He has a track record of a dictator. He has jailed opponents on the most ridiculous charges," he said.

Other prominent opponents include Hassan Saeed, a former attorney-general, and Ghaseem Ibrahim, a local businessman.  Results from the election, in which 208,000 people are eligible to vote, are due on Thursday. Voting will last for 12 hours.

Major change

The vote marks a sea change in Maldivian politics, given that previously it was illegal to criticise Gayoom, who presided for six terms under a one-candidate system.  "But I hope we can push him out gracefully," Anni said, calling Gayoom a "has-been sultan" who had bought up votes in the election.  The Maldives has the highest income per head of population in south Asia, due to its coastal resorts. Hotels on the archipelago charge up to $15,000 a night. However, there is poverty in the country and high unemployment particularly among women and young men.  But increasing drug use, worsening crime and a chronic housing shortage are threatening to undermine the economic progress.  A bomb attack carried out by Islamic fighters in the capital Male wounded a dozen tourists last year, the first such attack in the country.  The tsunami of 2004 also adversely affected the economy, which is highly dependent on tourism.  Gayoom has concentrated his campaign on outlying islands, home to more than half the electorate and where he appears to have the most support.  However, opposition rallies in Male have drawn widespread support.  The winning presidential candidate must secure more than 50 per cent of the vote and avoid a second-round run-off.  So far, there has been no fair indication of how the election will pan out, given the lack of reliable opinion polls conducted before the vote. "I feel I must be at the helm to see through the reform programme," Gayoom said on Tuesday.  He criticised opponents for casting him as a politician similar to Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, or Fidel Castro, the former president of Cuba.  "It is very wrong to compare me to those people," he said, while pledging to respect the result of the vote. The vote comes in the same week that a report by the Maldives independent auditor general alleged that the government had given millions of dollars to its supporters.