MALE (AFP) — The tourist paradise of the Maldives has embraced democracy and thrown its president of 30 years out of office, but the nation's new rulers admit winning the election was the easy part.
The long list of challenges facing the incoming government includes the threat of civil unrest after decades of one-party rule, the release of political prisoners, and enacting a swathe of promised reforms.
President-elect Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed vowed after Tuesday's election to work for reconciliation in the fractured Sunni Muslim country, which used its first taste of democracy to oust veteran Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Nasheed, who was repeatedly jailed under Gayoom's regime, said he would ensure no one suffered the same fate under his rule.
"There should be no political prisoners in the Maldives," he told AFP. "That is clear and we will very quickly look into the cases of those who are being held."
Human rights activists say about 300 people are in detention without charges.
The founder of Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Mohamed Latheef, warned that simmering tensions could lead to clashes with Gayoom's supporters.
"There may be many who want their pound of flesh," Latheef said. "We have to quickly set up some system of reconciliation to heal the wounds. They are deep. Keeping society together is the big challenge."
He said increased political freedoms would be welcomed by the average Maldivian, but that poverty and housing were the pressing issues for the Indian Ocean archipelago's population of 300,000.
Male lawmaker Ibrahim Ismail said that Nasheed must move quickly to manage the demands of a restless electorate.
"The next few weeks will be a difficult period because the expectations of the people are very, very high," Ismail said, adding that Nasheed had the extra burden of appeasing five other opposition parties which supported his election.
"He will have to manage that alliance and that is going to be tough," said Ismail, whose Liberal Party is one partner in Nasheed's unity front that defeated Gayoom.
Nasheed and Gayoom addressed a joint press conference on Wednesday after the results were announced and both pledged to ensure a smooth transition to full democracy.
"I don't like being beaten in sports. I don't like being beaten in politics. But it is a fact of life that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose," Gayoom told reporters. "In that spirit, I accept this verdict of the people."
Nasheed has already promised Gayoom a "comfortable stay" in the Maldives, a country known for its luxury beach resorts and honeymoon hideaways.
But others are demanding revenge after Gayoom's autocratic regime that started in 1978.
"We want him (Gayoom) to be tried according to the laws of the land and punished for what he did," party worker Mohamed Arif said at an MDP campaign office.
Other party workers said Nasheed must call an immediate halt to endemic corruption and tackle drug abuse that affects one in three youngsters.
Nasheed has also promised to improve healthcare and communication to remote islands, to privatise state enterprises and to turn the 62-million-dollar presidential palace into the country's first university.
While Gayoom was accused of living like a king, average families often cram into a single room in Male, the world's most congested capital city with 90,000 people living in a one square-mile (2.5 square kilometre) area.
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