The inauguration of new Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed took place at Male today (11).

President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Indian Vice President Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari were among the many South Asian leaders and foreign dignitaries who attended the ceremony.

Nasheed won the run-off election on for the Maldivian Presidency on October 28 with a 54% majority defeating President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who ruled the country for 30 years. It was the first election held under new laws that widened the democratic process in the Maldives.

President Rajapaksa is also made a courtesy call on former President Gayoom.

Sri Lanka and the Maldives have very good relations dating back many centuries, which have been strengthened since the two countries gained independence from the British. They are both members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which is currently chaired by Sri Lanka.

Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed, the winner of the country’s first multi-party presidential elections formed his political party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in Sri Lanka. He was arrested and sentenced to prison several times and declared by Amnesty International as a Prisoner of Conscience in 1991 for contributing articles to a popular political magazine named Sangu.