A former political prisoner won the Maldives' first democratic presidential election, preliminary results showed, defeating the Indian Ocean archipelago's longtime ruler and sending euphoric supporters into the streets Wednesday in celebration.
With all the votes counted from Tuesday's election, opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed won 54 percent of the vote to President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's 46 percent, according to provisional results from the nation's elections commission.
The results signaled the end of the 30-year reign of Asia's longest-serving ruler, who won six previous elections but had never before faced an opponent. A final official count will be released later this week.
"We have embraced democracy for the sake of the next generation and the people of the Maldives," said acting opposition party head Ibrahim Hussein Zaki.
The election was viewed as a referendum on Gayoom, 71, who is hailed by supporters for bringing development and tourism dollars to this tiny nation of 370,000, but is criticized by opponents who brand him a despot who violently suppressed opposition.
