Abdulla Yameen won the Maldives presidential election run-off on Saturday, narrowly defeating the favourite Mohamed Nasheed in a ballot that voters hope will end nearly two years of political turmoil that has hit the vital tourism industry. The crisis occasionally spilled over into violent protests in the Indian Ocean holiday paradise after Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically elected president in 2008, was forced to resign early last year in what he said was a coup.
Three previous attempts to hold the election were annulled or delayed in as many months and, although Nasheed led the first round a week ago, Yameen enjoyed the support of resort tycoon Gasim Ibrahim, who was eliminated in that ballot. Yameen is a half-brother of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled for 30 years and is considered a dictator by rights groups and opponents. Gasim had been Gayoom's finance minister. Imad Masood, spokesman for outgoing president Mohamed Waheed, said Yameen had won more than 51 percent of the vote. "Four more boxes are yet to be counted, but they won't make any difference to the final results," he told Reuters. The Election Commission had yet to confirm Yameen's victory, and may not announce the final count from an electorate of around 240,000 people until Sunday.
It was not immediately clear whether Nasheed would contest the results. He was due to hold a press conference at 11 pm (1800 GMT) in the capital Male. Some Maldivians viewed the election as a choice between dictatorship and democracy. Others focused on Yameen's earlier success in charge of several state-run firms - experience that could help him win back the confidence of potential investors. "Yameen has experience running companies, so he will know how to run the country better," 27-year-old voter Ahmed Abu Bakr said earlier in the day. "Nasheed's better as an activist, so he can be the opposition."
Whether the election brings stability remains to be seen. The campaign centred on the role of religion in a Muslim state where Islamist ideology has begun to take hold. Yameen accused Nasheed and his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) of being too secular and close to Western countries. In reply, Nasheed said his opponents had used religion as a weapon, and added that he would build a "completely new nationhood based on Islam, human rights, social security and economic opportunity".
Yameen must convince overseas companies to return after the government cancelled the Maldives' biggest foreign investment project, with India's GMR Infrastructure. High levels of debt and a lack of foreign currency reserves also make the idyllic archipelago vulnerable to external economic shocks. Tourism receipts contributed 38 percent of government revenue last year.
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