Maldives election result may prolong unrest

Credit: Reuters/Waheed Mohamed

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed, who was ousted as president in 2012 (C), casts his vote at a polling station during the presidential elections in Male November 9, 2013.

Nasheed secured 46.66 percent of the total votes polled, with 472 out of 475 boxes counted, according to the provisional results from the country's Election Commission. His main rival Abdulla Yameen won 29.88 percent. Gasim Ibrahim, a resort tycoon, secured 23.46 percent.

The polls were the third Maldives attempt to elect a new leader in as many months. A September 7 vote was annulled based on a secret police report which found vote rigging while an October poll was halted by police after a Supreme Court ruling.

The Election Commission has scheduled the run-off vote for Sunday, but that election could be delayed. Nasheed was the country's first democratically elected leader who came to power in 2008 after 30 years of one-man rule. He was ousted last year in circumstances his supporters say amounted to a coup.

(Reporting by J.J. Robinson; Writing by Shihar Aneez; editing by Matthias Williams)