MALE, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- With no candidate getting more than 50 percent votes needed to be elected, the Maldives is heading for a run-off presidential election which will see the incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom contesting his main rival Mohamed Nasheed.

    Figures released from the Elections Commission showed that as of 9:30 p.m. local time (1630 GMT) Thursday, Gayoom has taken 40.87 percent of the 160,732 votes counted.

    Gayoom, who has been the president since November 1978, ran forthe presidency again representing the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (Maldivian People's Party).

    He was followed by his main rival, the Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) Mohamed Nasheed, who has got 25.11 percent of the counted votes.

    The remaining votes were divided among the independent candidate Hassan Saeed (16.12 percent), the Jumhooree Party's (Republican Party) Qasim Ibrahim (15.64 percent), the Islamic Democratic Party' s Umar Naseer (1.45 percent) and the Social Liberal Party's Ibrahim Ismail (0.81 percent).

    Elections Commissioner Mohamed Ibrahim told reporters Thursday evening that the commission "will try to have the final result at 11:30 p.m. (1830 GMT)."

    Ibrahim said the commission had no turnout figures for the 208,252 registered voters, but 68 percent of the 395 ballot boxes had been verified as of Thursday afternoon.

    More than 1,000 local and foreign observers monitored the voting and counting process. They have estimated the turnout at about 70 percent, adding that the election process was peaceful.

    However, Elections Commissions Complaint Bureau Manager Nadine Washeed said her office had recorded 1047 complaints, most of them were in relation to the registration of the voters.

    "Until all the complaints have been investigated and solved, wec an not say the election is free and fair," Washeed said.

    According to the new constitution ratified by Gayoom in August, the president shall be elected directly by the people and over 50 percent of the votes are needed to be elected.

    If no candidate obtains such majority, a run-off election must be held within 21 days after the first election. It will be contested by the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the first election.

    Analysts say Gayoom will have a hard time in a run-off if supporters of the other opposition candidates rally behind the MDP' s candidate Nasheed.

    With a population of 300,000, the Maldives are a group of 1,192islands scattered across 800 km of the Indian Ocean neighboring India and Sri Lanka.

    Supported by tourism, fishing and shipping, the 850 million-U.S.-dollar economy grew by 7.6 percent in 2007 and the Maldivian government expects the economy to grow by 8.3 percent for 2008.