A Fascinating Election... In the Maldives

With all the media focus in the past months on the U.S. presidential election, one might not know that other countries have recently held elections, too. Canada, for example, re-elected Stephen Harper just weeks ago. And as of yesterday, the Maldives has elected a new president, Mohamed Nasheed.

This details of this election are fascinating. The tiny, rich South Asian country had been ruled by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom for thirty years, the longest such tenure in Asia. Only in recent years, following violent protests, has Gayoom slowly allowed democratic reforms, culminating with this year's election. Not only has the country successfully conducted the first national election in its history (it gained independence from Great Britain in 1965), but it has done so by collecting polling data from inhabitants of over 250 tiny islands.

The initial round of voting three weeks ago ended with Gayoom holding a 15 percent lead over Nasheed (40%-25%), his nearest of five competitors. However, as is the case in many countries (but not the U.S.), a winner is only declared when a candidate has over 50 percent of the vote. In the run-off, Nasheed was declared the winner with 54 percent. Clearly, in both rounds of voting, Maldives citizens expressed a desire for change.

In an interesting twist of justice, Gayoom was defeated by one of his former polital prisoners. Despite the history between the two, there has been no election-related violence since the results were released Tuesday. Democracy, as some define it, can only exist through a peaceful transfer of power. Though time will tell for sure, this tiny island nation seems to have met that important criteria.