Maldives President Mohamed Waheed Hassan casts his vote in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013. (AP Photo)
Maldives President Mohammed Waheed announced he will stay in power after his term ended at midnight Sunday.
In an address to the nation, barely 15 minutes before his term expired, he said he would stay in office till the 16th - when a runoff is scheduled between top contender ex-President Mohamed Nasheed and former autocrat Maumoon Gayoom's brother Abdulla Yameen Gayoom.
Mr Nasheed's party has refused to accept President Waheed staying on, saying constitutionally it's the Majlis' speaker who should be interim President. The Supreme Court though has ruled that Waheed can stay on till a new President is accepted and it also struck down the parliamentary resolution that stated the speaker would take over.
The Maldives could now face a constitutional crisis, with two possible power centres and two men potentially claiming the presidency and control over the government and security forces.
The Supreme Court early on Sunday postponed the scheduled run-off to November 16. On Saturday, ex-President Nasheed won the fresh first round by more than what he had in the annulled vote held on September 7.
Provisional election commission numbers gave ex-President Mohamed Nasheed 46.93 % of the vote. Abdulla Yameen Gayoom was second with 29.73 %. They will face each other in the run-off. Qasim Ibrahim was third with 23.34 % and is knocked out of the race. Mohamed Waheed had dropped out of the race after the annulled first round with less than 5 % of the vote.
Waheed had earlier said he would not stay a minute beyond his term, but has changed his mind after the top court ruling on Saturday. Mr Nasheed's party had called for international sanctions if President Waheed didn't step down and let the Speaker take over as interim President. The US, UK and Commonwealth have criticised the delayed polls and are bound to react to the latest developments in an over two month long political drama, as is India.