Abdulla Yameen took power in the Maldives Sunday after an election victory, ending nearly two years of political turmoil that threatened to turn the honeymoon islands into an international pariah.

Yameen, the half-brother of the islands' long-time strongman ruler, was due to be sworn in at a presidential inauguration ceremony at around 1:00pm (0800 GMT).

The Maldives on Saturday voted in a run-off presidential election held under intense international pressure to elect a new leader and end months of political unrest.

Polling booths across the Indian Ocean archipelago opened at 7:30am (0230 GMT), with the electorate of 239,000 given eight and a half hours to choose between two candidates.

The president of the Maldives has left the country on the eve of national elections that have been delayed three times, his spokesman said Friday, leaving a leadership void amid a constitutional crisis.

Mohamed Waheed, who took office after a contested transfer of power last February, left for Hong Kong via Singapore on Thursday evening to accompany his wife to a medical appointment, spokesman Masood Imad said.

The European Union on Thursday promised "appropriate measures" if the Maldives once again scuttled presidential elections due this weekend and warned the honeymoon destination not to become "autocratic."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the bloc would regard any bid to further delay or influence the outcome of the run-off election scheduled for Saturday as intended to prevent the people of the Maldives from exercising their democratic right to choose a leader.

A political crisis deepened in the Maldives Monday when parliament's speaker warned caretaker president Mohamed Waheed that his mandate had expired after the country failed to hold elections on time.

Speaker Abdulla Shahid, who is linked to the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), told Waheed that he had no right to govern because his time in office had lapsed under the terms of the constitution.

Opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed topped Saturday's bitterly-fought presidential elections, but failed to secure a clear majority needed to avoid a tricky run-off, official results showed.

Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) immediately pressed for a quick second round of voting on Sunday as previously scheduled as his main challenger Abdulla Yameen asked for a postponement.

Voting got underway in the Maldives on Saturday as the country made its third bid to choose a president and end unrest sparked by the toppling of its first freely elected leader 21 months ago.

Men and women queued even before polling booths opened in the Indian Ocean nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands sprinkled across the equator, officials said.

Election authorities in the Maldives Monday rescheduled the twice aborted presidential vote for November 9, two days after police blocked the last attempt saying it was illegal.

"Dear all, 1st round of the Presidential elections to be held on Nov 9th and 2nd round on Nov 16th," the independent Elections Commission chief Fuwad Thowfeek said on Twitter.

Police in the Maldives forced the postponement of Saturday's presidential polls in the Indian Ocean nation, declaring the vote illegal and blocking documents from leaving the offices of the independent Elections Commission.

The commission just hours earlier announced the vote would go ahead as planned despite 11th-hour court challenges by two candidates.

Descending by plane into the Maldives offers a panoramic view of azure seas and coral-fringed islands, but as the tarmac nears, billowing smoke in the middle distance reveals an environmental calamity.

Thilafushi Island, a half-hour boat trip from the capital, is surrounded by the same crystal clear waters and white sand that have made the Indian Ocean archipelago a honeymoon destination for the rich and famous.