By IANS
Male : Maldivians voted Saturday in a historic referendum to decide whether the Indian Ocean archipelago should go in for a Westminster-style multi-party democracy or a presidential system of government.
The result is likely to be announced Sunday morning.
More than 150,000 of the 370,000 citizens of this Sunni Muslim country are eligible to vote. There are around 9,000 non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the country.
Voters started queuing up at voting centres much before the ballot boxes were opened. Except for some isolated incidents, voting has been largely peaceful.
There were reports of ballot boxes not arriving on time in some resorts of this high-end tourism destination, according to Minivan News online newspaper.
At Ihavandhoo in Haa Aliff atoll, voting was delayed after residents forced police to arrest a man accused of bribing voters, islanders told the newspaper.
The referendum is being held in the run up to the multiparty elections, which will be held before November next year.
Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Asia’s longest serving leader, has been ruling the Indian Ocean atoll nation for nearly three decades.
According to reports, Gayoom wants a presidential system of government, akin to the US, with a two five-year term limit on the presidency.
However, the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) says the only way to a clean and accountable government is to introduce a multi-party political system with a prime minister answerable to parliament.
“What many countries had achieved over the course of decades or even centuries is being introduced in the Maldives in only a handful of years,” the Times of London quoted Gayoom as saying in Britain last month.
“Despite this ambitious timetable, much progress has already been made. In just three years, the reform agenda has transformed the political landscape of the Maldives,” he said.
The referendum is designed to attract more Western aid to the nation, known for its pristine beaches and coral reefs, and is being closely watched by Britain, the country’s largest foreign donor.
As of now, the Maldives is a presidential republic, whereby the president is the head of the government. The president heads the executive branch and appoints the cabinet.
The president is nominated to a five-year term by a secret ballot of the parliament called Majlis, a nomination confirmed by national referendum.
Gayoom unveiled an ambitious package of political reforms in 2005, which is designed to bring “liberal, modern democracy” to the island nation.
In July 2005, six months after the last elections in the country, political parties were introduced for the first time. Over 35 members of parliament joined the Dhivehi Raiyyathunge Party (Maldivian People’s Party) and elected Gayoom as its leader. Twelve members joined the opposition MDP. Two members remained independent.
In March 2006, Gayoom published a detailed roadmap for the reforms agenda, providing time bound measures to write a new constitution and to modernise the legal framework.
According to reports, Gayoom plans to stand in the multiparty elections scheduled for 2008 and then retire from active politics in 2010.