Summary Mohamed Nasheed is favored to win after receiving nearly 47 percent in the first round.
MALE (AP) - Voters in the Maldives will choose between their first democratically elected leader and the longtime autocrat s brother in a presidential runoff on Saturday that comes amid international concerns that the tiny archipelago nation may slip back to strongman rule after long delays in the election.
Mohamed Nasheed, who was elected president in the country s first multiparty polls in 2008, is favored to win after receiving nearly 47 percent in the first round on Nov. 9. His failure to get at least 50 percent for an outright win required a runoff against Yaamin Abdul Gayoom, a brother of 30-year autocratic ruler Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
The election is expected to be a close contest with Yaamin, who received 30 percent of the first-round votes, courting the support of the third-placed candidate, tourist resort owner Qasim Ibrahim, who received 23 percent.
Maldives is under scrutiny after failing to elect a president in three attempts since September and after incumbent President Mohamed Waheed Hassan extended his term in office by six days, purportedly to avoid a constitutional void because the country is past the legal deadline to elect a new president.
Some voters appeared to have run out of patience.
"We are fed up with politics. It has slowed our life. There is no business anymore," said Abdullah Abeedh, a 25-year-old photographer. "We want this election process to end Saturday and the president to be elected," he said.
"I am not voting this round. There is no one who is good," said Mohamed Ali, a government employee.
The Supreme Court annulled results of an election conducted Sept. 7 because it found that the voters registry contained fake names and those of dead people.
Police stopped a second attempt at holding the election because all candidates had not accepted a new voters list as the court mandated.
The court intervened again to change the runoff election date, which had been set for the day after the Nov. 9 election. It also ordered Hassan to continue in office despite the official end of his term on Nov. 11.
The European Union warned that the country might slip back to autocratic rule and said it is considering "appropriate measures" if Maldives fails to elect a new president Saturday. It said further delays will only be seen as attempts to prevent Maldivians from exercising their democratic rights.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier this week that Hassan s decision to stay beyond his term endangered the people s right to elect a new leader and called for the election to be concluded soon.
Hassan flew overseas Friday after delivering a farewell address in which he said his government "refused to bow down to foreign pressure, but instead upheld the legal framework and the orders of the constitutional institutions of the country." He will remain head of state until the election concludes Saturday.
Maldives has seen much upheaval in the five years since its first multiparty election. There has been conflict between the judiciary, Parliament and the presidency, which often worked in different directions. The judiciary and bureaucracy were often accused of being loyal to Gayoom, the former autocratic ruler.
Nasheed was elected in 2008 but resigned midway through his term last year after weeks of public protests and declining support from the military and police over his decision to detain a senior judge whom he perceived to be biased. He later claimed that he was ousted in a coup but an inquiry commission rejected the allegation.
Maldives is a predominantly Muslim nation of 350,000 people. About 240,000 are eligible to vote Saturday.
