Asia's longest-serving ruler was up against a former political prisoner compared by some to Nelson Mandela as the Maldives held its first multiparty presidential elections yesterday.

Mamoun Abdul Gayoom, the 71-year-old President, won the six polls since 1978 as the only candidate on the ballot, before pro-democracy protests forced him to lift a ban on political parties in 2006.

He says that he will still win at least 50 per cent of the vote in a country he has transformed into South Asia's richest per capita, based on luxury resorts that can charge up to $15,000 (£8,700) for a room.

But his opponents brand him a latter day sultan who has pocketed tens of millions of pounds in tourist revenue and tsunami aid, and who rivals Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, in his efforts to cling to power.

The front-runner of his five challengers is Mohammed “Anni” Nasheed, 41, a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience who spent six years in jail and was given political asylum in Britain in 2004.

Mr Nasheed, who returned to the Maldives in 2005 and now heads the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said: “The people of this country deserve better - we've had a dictatorship for the last 30 years.

“If we can't have a free and fair election then the good people of Britain should question how beautiful the Maldives is based on other factors, not just its white sandy beaches.”

As voters queued outside polling stations in the rain, opposition parties accused Mr Gayoom of trying to rig the poll using tricks such as removing their members from the electoral roll. Mariya Didi, chairwoman of the MDP, went to her polling station to find that she and her ten brothers and sisters were not on the voting list.

Ahmed Shaheed, a former Foreign Minister running as an independent vice-presidential candidate, said: “It's a disaster. I think there is deliberate tampering.” Mr Nasheed said that the Government had tried to annul the vote because of the problems with the electoral roll but had backed down after protests from the opposition.

“We feel that things are going our way - we will win an absolute majority,” he said. “Of course they will rig the result later because they can't afford to lose. But if they rig it, I think the reaction will be very violent.”

The ruling party said that the voting problems were understandable and that some of its officials also had difficulties at polling stations. A spokeswoman for Mr Gayoom's party said: “Because it is our first multiparty election, we are experiencing a lot of teething problems.”

The election commission responded by extending last night's voting deadline and allowing anyone with a national ID card to vote, prompting further protests from the opposition.

Analysts say the results, due today, are hard to predict because there has been no reliable opinion polling. They say that Mr Gayoom's conservative platform remains popular in outlying parts of the nation of 370,000 people, mostly Sunni Muslims, spread across 1,192 islands in the Indian Ocean.

They also say that he is increasingly unpopular in Malé, the capital of 104,000 people which has a growing heroin problem and suffered its first terrorist attack, blamed on Islamist militants, a year ago. If no candidate wins more than 50 per cent, there will be a run-off between the two front-runners - probably Mr Gayoom and Mr Nasheed.

Mr Gayoom, who survived an assassination attempt in January, has promised to bow out if he loses, but still appears confident of winning another five-year term.

“I feel I must be at the helm to see through the reform programme,” he told reporters in his final campaign appearance, dismissing comparisons with dictators around the world.

“It is very wrong to compare me to those people,” he said.

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