Rivals fight for presidency in Maldives run off

MALE, Oct 26 (Reuters) -- Asia's longest-serving ruler faces a unified opposition backing his oldest political rival on Tuesday in a run-off presidential election in the Maldives.

Tuesday's run off comes after Maldivians voted on Oct. 9 in what were the country's first-ever multiparty polls, the culmination of years of agitation for democratic reforms.

The string of 1,192 mostly uninhabited coral atolls 800 km (500 miles) off the tip of India is mostly known as a tropical idyll of azure waters where a one-night stay can cost thousands of dollars.

President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, 71, won 40.6 percent of the vote earlier this month, but it was short of the 50 percent required to avoid a run off. He is seeking a seventh term.

Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed, a vocal activist who Gayoom's government has jailed 27 times on what right groups have said were trumped-up charges, came second with 25.1 percent.

Although voter registration problems and rigging allegations marred the election, observers generally praised the voting and applauded the 85 percent turnout -- which saw some voters standing in line for as long as 15 hours.

The four other candidates in the poll have backed Nasheed but there are no reliable opinion polls to suggest which way the Maldives' 208,000 registered voters will vote.

"We are expecting and hoping for a change, but (the government) still has all the power and all the money," said Nasheed supporter Ali Shifaq, 37. "Still, there's a 50-50 chance we can beat Gayoom."

"END OF DEMOCRACY"

Most Maldivians credit Gayoom with transforming the country from a fishing-dependent economy into a top-flight tourist destination with South Asia's highest per-capita income. But many say only a small clique around him has grown rich.

"He's the one and only in the Maldives, our one and only president," said 20-year-old Ismail Shafeed. "He has done everything for the country."

Campaigning has been heated, with a series of reports from the newly independent auditor general accusing Gayoom of loaning millions in state money to top government officials.

Gayoom has denied the charges.

He has accused the opposition of spreading Christianity, a serious charge in the nation of 300,000 Sunni Muslims.

"The Christian evangelical movement in the Maldives includes members and close family of the opposition," Gayoom told reporters earlier this month.

Popularly known as Anni, Nasheed was at the centre of pro-democracy protests in 2004 that led to a heavy-handed crackdown and drew rare international attention.

Nasheed, who has said that re-electing Gayoom "would be the end of democracy in the Maldives", may have bigger problems.

Last week, the newly independent electoral commission launched a case that accused him of campaigning on a voting day. If convicted, he could face up to two years in jail.

Election officials say it will have no bearing on the vote, since it still has to be decided by the high court.

Whoever wins will take over an economy that gets 28 percent of its GDP directly from tourism but which is under IMF pressure to ease its debts and trim a large government payroll.

It also faces high child malnutrition, a major heroin problem, and rising sea levels that could see much of its land mass underwater by 2100, if a U.N. climate change panel's predictions are right.