Maldives votes in poll seen as President litmus test

MALE, Aug 18 (Reuters) Tourist mecca the Maldives voted today in a referendum to choose between a British-style parliament and a US-style presidency -- seen as a first taste of democracy and a litmus test for Asia's longest-serving ruler.

Thousands flocked to polling stations across the Indian Ocean island cluster and many hoped the vote would send a signal to President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to go after 29 years in power.

Gayoom's critics say he is stalling on implementing reforms pledged in 2004 to revamp the power structure in the nation of 300,000 mostly Sunni Muslims in response to criticism of his government's rights record.

''For me it is not a vote for a parliamentary or presidential system. It is a question of voting yes or no for the existing president, and I say no,'' said 45-year-old speed boat company manager Ibrahim Mohamed in the capital Male. ''I believe the reform process will only start after changing this government.'' ''The islands have prospered, but it has not been equal. We don't have proper hospital facilities. Some islanders are living in very poor conditions,'' he added. ''It is time for him to go.'' Gayoom proposes adopting a presidential system to replace what government officials themselves have described as an autocratic sultanate of old, while his main Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) opponents want a parliamentary system.

Gayoom says he intends to run for another term in the island's first multi-party elections next year and hopes to retire by early 2010. But his opponents say a vote for a parliamentary system is a vote against him.

Pressure on Gayoom to reform politics is mounting from within his own ranks.

Two leading figures of his cabinet, which under the present system he handpicks and appoints, quit this month, accusing him of stalling on a new constitution and independence of the judiciary.

Gayoom's critics accuse him of cracking down on dissenting views to hold on to power and maintain control of tourism resorts, which rake in millions of dollars each year.

SHARE THE WEALTH Many Maldivians feel cheated, and say the revenues from the island's 89 luxury resorts are not trickling down to half the population who live in poverty on a dollar a day.

''The people of the Maldives are not living happily,'' said airport security guard Masuood Hassan on the island of Viligili.

''People have no rights, they have no freedom of speech.'' ''I want to change the president, and that's why I am voting for a parliamentary system.'' Officials say they are pushing on with plans for reforms such as freedom of assembly. The chain of 1,200 mostly uninhabited islands 800 km off the toe of India only legalised the existence of political parties in 2005.

''We need these reforms because socio-economic progress ... in recent years has increased expectations,'' said reformist Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed. ''We also need to subscribe to international norms and values of human rights and democracy.'' ''Because we rely on tourism, we need to update our legal system to protect people's rights and investment.'' Gayoom reserved comment on the referendum, saying he was bound by election campaign laws. ''My lips are sealed,'' he told Reuters after voting in Male. ''It is the right of every citizen to vote today, so I've come to do so too.'' Initial results of the vote are due late today.

REUTERS SKB PM2010