The president of the Maldives for the past 30 years conceded electoral defeat Wednesday to a former dissident he had repeatedly jailed during years of crusading for democracy on the tropical Indian Ocean archipelago. Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed, victorious with 54.2 percent of a runoff vote held on Tuesday, stood with President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the office he inherits on Nov. 11, with both praising the Maldives' first multiparty poll as a testament to democracy. Asia's longest-serving ruler, 71, made good on his pledge to leave peacefully and join the opposition, after a campaign in which he and his nemesis traded sharp accusations.
