Maldivians trickle into Colombo booth for historic vote

| DATE: 2008-10-08 | PRINT | SHARE

By Mel Gunasekera

COLOMBO, Oct 8, 2008 - Maldivians based in Sri Lanka, trickled into cast their ballots for the historic multi-party elections, which pits incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom against five bitter rivals.

Some 200 Maldivians, including the high commissioner for Sri Lanka Ali Hussein Didi, marked their ballots papers during the first two hours of polling in Colombo.

The embassy has put up a makeshift white tent inside their premises in Colombo's upmarket Bambalapitiya area, with plastic chairs provided for voters to be seated before casting their ballots.

Just over 1,000 Maldivians have registered to vote in Sri Lanka, high commissioner Didi said.

Some voters were seen pouring over the electoral list searching for their names.

Ahmed Niyaz of the embassy's political section said voting opened at 9:00 am and close at 9:00 pm. Results are expected late Wednesday.

"Four officials from the elections commission have flown in to conduct the poll in Colombo. We expect the counting to be done here and the results announced later in the night," Niyaz said.

The historic vote is the first for President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who has ruled the chain of 1,192 coral islands for six-terms under the previous one-candidate system.

From a backward fishing community, Gayoom has transformed the Sunni Muslim nation of 369,000 people, to the region's most expensive tourist destination where per capita income of 3,400 dollars, is the highest in South Asia.

He said he himself was a "reformist" despite criticism of his strong grip on power and argued that he had been reforming the country since he became president in 1978.

Gayoom says he can fight off any challenger and win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off but with no reliable opinion polls, the outcome is seen as impossible to predict.

Main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential hopeful Mohamed 'Anni' Nasheed said Colombo was one of his "prime constituencies" during a whistle stop visit to the capital to address Maldivians based here last month.