Voting started Wednesday in the Maldives' first democratic presidential election, which sees the Indian Ocean archipelago choosing whether to replace Asia's longest-serving leader. Polling stations in the capital Male and scores of islands in the chain of white sand and crystal-clear water atolls opened at 9:00 am (0400 GMT) and are due to close at 9:00 pm, the election commission said. In all, 208,000 people are eligible to vote, and the final result is expected Thursday. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, a two person run-off will be held within 10 days. The polls pit incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, aged 71 and the islands' strongman for the past 30 years, against five bitter rivals in a race seen as impossible to predict given an absence of reliable opinion polls.