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In 2008, in the first-ever multiparty elections, voters ended three decades of autocratic rule by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
ECONOMIST: Rival leaders bicker, and vie for help from India
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The Maldives has seen political unrest in recent years in protest at the 29-year rule of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
ECONOMIST: Politics this week
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He belonged to the party of another former President, Maumoon Abdul Gayoon, who ruled the Maldives for 30 years from 1978.
BBC: Maldives MP stabbed to death outside his home
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It is the first time President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who has been in power for 30 years and is seeking a seventh term, will face opponents at the polls.
BBC: Maldives teachers strike over pay
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Mr Nasheed's Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) said the president's resignation had been engineered by "rogue elements" of the police and military, along with supporters of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
BBC: New Maldives leader Waheed Hassan vows calm transition
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Mr Nasheed, a reformist who spent years in jail or under house arrest, came to power in 2008 after beating long-time President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the country's first ever polls.
BBC: Maldives report rejects Nasheed coup claims
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His supporters claim his ouster was masterminded by armed forces still loyal to Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, a former autocratic president who ruled the country for three decades before Mr. Nasheed came to power.
WSJ: Maldives Arrests Former President Nasheed