Presidential elections were held in the Maldives in two rounds on 8 and 28 October. No candidate gained more than 50% of the vote in the first round on 8 October; incumbent president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom fared best with about 40%. A runoff was thus held on 28 October between Gayoom and second-placed Mohamed Nasheed. Nasheed won the election, unseating longtime incumbent Gayoom. The election was the first one held democratically in the history of the Maldives. Background The election was initially planned to be held on 4 October, but had to be delayed after the Majlis (national assembly) did not pass necessary reforms on time. The incumbent, President Gayoom, in power since 1978, ran for another five-year term. According to the new Constitution, which came into effect on 7 August 2008, Gayoom had served the maximum number of terms allowed (two). He argued that since the election was held under a new constitution, the previous terms did not count toward the limit. The Supreme Court agreed that the limited terms were to be served "under this Constitution" and that Gayoom was therefore eligible to run in the election. On 25 August 2008 the Maldives National Congress and the Adhaalath Party announced that they would support Republican Party candidate Qasim Ibrahim. On September 3, 2008, the six candidates participated in a televised debate. Voting First round There were 208,252 eligible voters in the Maldives in the first round, which is roughly 60% of the population. There were a total 396 polling stations throughout the country. Additionally, registered Maldivians living in Colombo, Thiruvananthapuram, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore were permitted to vote in Maldivian embassies and consulates. Voters went to the polls on 8 October starting at 09:00 local time (04:00 UTC), and expecting to end at 20:00 (15:00 UTC). The elections were peaceful, though voting irregularities prevented some voters from voting. Lines to polling stations were long on some islands, with waits sometimes exceeding six hours. A number of citizens, especially of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), were found to be not on the voter lists, even though they had registered, and some islands did not even receive voter lists. Later, the election committee said that anyone could vote, as long as he or she showed an ID card that was valid. A handful of riot police were deployed after 300 protesters gathered around the central vote-counting location, Nasandhura Palace.