30/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner has welcomed the peaceful and orderly way the presidential election passed off in the Maldives on 28 October. Voting saw opposition candidate and former political prisoner Mohamed Nasheed win by a wide margin, thereby ending the 30 year rule of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the archipelago. Gayoom conceded defeat and said that he agreed to pass over power. “I am satisfied that the European Commission has provided strong support to the reform process of the Maldives, notably through assistance to the electoral process,” Ferrero-Waldner said in a press release. She went on: “The European Commission will continue to work with the Maldives in order to further strengthen democracy in the country to the benefit of its citizens”. (A.B./transl.rt)