The end of '30 years of repression'

The election victory of Mohamed Nasheed, a former political prisoner, as president of the Maldives in the country's first democratic presidential election is a watershed.

The BBC's Adam Mynott - who has visited the country many times - has this assessment.

Mohammed Nasheed's victory brings to a close the longest rule by a leader in Asia. It also marks the end of one of the world's most repressive governments.

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom ruled the Maldives - a remote group of islands in the Indian Ocean - for three decades.

He says he was democratically elected six times but until this, his seventh election, had never faced an opponent.

He also points to moves since 2004 to introduce democratic reform to the 1,200-island archipelago, including multi-party democracy.

But opposition forces in the Maldives say he was driven down the path of reform by growing unrest and protests in the country and international pressure.

Many are jubilant that change is finally in the offing

Opponents say one of the biggest stains on Mr Gayoom's 30-year rule was his brutal silencing of dissent.

The defeated president has repeatedly brushed aside charges of imprisoning and torturing people for political reasons.

I recorded an interview with Mr Gayoom for the BBC in 2005 when he denied a number of allegations that he had suppressed free speech and thrown political opponents into jail.

International human rights bodies point to a catalogue of opposition figures being incarcerated without trial in the dreaded Maafusi Jail.

One of those arrested and imprisoned is the new president of the Maldives, Mr Nasheed, who was detained on numerous occasions accused of "sedition", "withholding information" and "theft of government property".

He was jailed and sent into exile to remote Maldivian islands for a total of nearly six years.

In November 2003 Mr Nasheed left the Maldives to set up the opposition party, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in Sri Lanka.

He also spent time in the UK establishing international contacts and sympathisers.

Supporters of Mr Gayoom also credit him with turning the Maldives into a tourist paradise which has brought in huge amounts of foreign revenue.

But this income has not been spread around the 300,000 population.

His successor takes on a country afflicted with many problems including poverty, growing Islamic extremism, drug-abuse and rampant corruption.

The Maldives is also the country which faces the biggest threat posed by global warming and a rise in sea-levels. The highest point on any of the 1,200 islands is just 2.4m (8ft) above sea-level.

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