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Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed smiles as he casts his vote at a local polling station in Male, on September 7, 2013/AFP

World

Maldives’ Nasheed faces tricky run-off

The other candidate who lost out in the initial vote was tourism tycoon Gasim Ibrahim who came in third.

Maldivians came out in force on Saturday, forming long queues outside polling booths under bright sunshine.

Regional power India and UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon had called for free and fair elections to end a year and a half of political turmoil on the tropical archipelago.

“On the whole, it (voting) was very calm and very peaceful,” the head of the Election Commission, Fuad Thaufeeq, told a press conference.

Voting took place on all major inhabited islands as well as at the tourist resorts that have made the country famous as a “paradise” destination.

Nearly one million holidaymakers visited last year, drawn to secluded beaches on private coral fringed islands where cabins can cost several thousand dollars a night.

More instability would have spelled problems for the tourism industry, the lifeblood of the country, which suffered a wave of cancellations after unrest last year.

Nasheed resigned from office on national television, which had been taken over by the security forces, whom he said threatened him and his family with violence.

Waheed, who was then vice-president, took the oath of office immediately afterwards, leading Nasheed to accuse him of taking part in a conspiracy with Gayoom and other wealthy businessmen.

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Waheed denies the charges, but the contested change in leadership and subsequent violence set back what was a flourishing democracy and left a legacy of distrust.

An international investigation concluded Waheed’s ascent to the presidency was constitutional, but Nasheed claimed he stepped down under duress.

The Maldives, which has a population of about 350,000 Muslims, held its first free elections in 2008 after three decades of autocratic rule by Gayoom.

Nasheed’s social programmes, eye for a political stunt and international work to highlight climate change earned him many fans while in office, but he was not universally popular.

After growing frustrated with the judiciary, he sent the army to arrest the head of the country’s criminal court, which led to a pending criminal charge that he abused his powers while in office.

His work to increase taxes and introduce budget guesthouses also earned him enemies among the powerful tourist tycoons, while he is seen by some as being too eager to please neighbouring India

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