Opposition leader wins presidential election

On 29 October 2008 Election Commission officials in the Maldives announced that opposition leader and former political prisoner Mohamed Nasheed has won the run-off in the country's first-ever democratic presidential election. Nasheed received approximately 54 percent of the vote, giving him a decisive victory over long-serving incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Thousands of Nasheed's supporters gathered in the streets of Male to celebrate the victory. Gayoom has ruled the island nation in the Indian Ocean for the past 30 years and has been criticized for his harsh suppression of political opposition. Gayoom imprisoned Nasheed at least six times in the past decade for leading the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party. Nasheed told reporters that he will bring far-reaching democratic changes to the government.