Protesters call cancellation of vote a new coup

A leading candidate in the Maldives' troubled presidential election has demanded that President Mohamed Waheed Hassan should resign immediately and allow the Parliament speaker to take over the government and call a fresh election.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, a day after police stopped officials from holding a scheduled revote, Mohamed Nasheed accused the president of working with the country's defense minister and police chief to obstruct the election.

Police forced a halt to a presidential election on Saturday, in what the leading candidate's supporters said was a new coup as he called on them to block the streets in protest.

The Indian Ocean archipelago has been in turmoil since February 2012, when then-president Mohamed Nasheed was ousted by mutinying police, military forces and armed demonstrators.

The election was due to be held on Saturday, after a vote in September was annulled over allegations of fraud.

But there had been confusion over whether it could go ahead as some candidates had still not signed a new voter register in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling early on Saturday to allow the election.

Just hours before polls were due to open for the vote that Nasheed looked set to win, police surrounded the secretariat of the Elections Commission.

Police said they could not support an election held "in contravention of the Supreme Court verdict and guidelines".

Police Chief Superintendent Abdulla Nawaz said he had acted out of concern about "any unrest that may occur in the country as a result of letting the election proceed".

Nasheed's supporters have staged violent protests since he was ousted, and this month, masked men firebombed a television station that backs Nasheed, who came to international prominence in 2009 after holding a Cabinet meeting underwater in scuba gear to highlight the threat of climate change.

"There has been a coup in the Maldives, and the coup backers, in order to maintain that coup, are committing bigger and bigger atrocities day after day," he told supporters staging a sit-in at two road junctions that brought Male to a halt.

"I call on you to block these streets. ... Let us shut down Male. Male can't function, we must succeed."

Security forces cordoned off part of Male, which included the president's office and the Supreme Court, while Nasheed's supporters blocked other streets with ropes, human chains, motorbikes and trucks.

Ahmed Khalid, 33, an artist at the protest, said: "The police are in control of this country. This is a coup."

Elections Commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek said at a news conference the country could not proceed with the vote if police were obstructing it, saying officers had "overstepped their authority".

Thowfeek appeared on state television late on Saturday to say at least 21 days were needed to amend the voter register again and the commission was in discussion with the government to potentially hold polls on Nov 2 or Nov 9.

Elections Commission member Ali Mohamed Manik said, "This is a dark day for democracy."

Nasheed, who came to power in the Maldives' first free elections in 2008, looked set to return to office when he won the first round of an election on Sept 7, putting him in a good position to win a runoff set for Sept 28.

But that election was canceled by the Supreme Court, which cited fraud.

The current president's term expires on Nov 11.

AP-Reuters