Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom will face a former political prisoner in a run-off vote on 29 October to decide landmark multi-party elections.
Mr Gayoom failed to win outright in the first round, securing 41% of votes cast. Opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed came second with 25%.
Mr Nasheed is a pro-democracy activist who has been jailed many times.
President Gayoom, Asia's longest serving leader, has held power in the Indian Ocean archipelago for 30 years.
In August, he approved a law permitting multi-party elections, responding to years of political agitation for reform.
Voting in the first round had to be extended amid claims of irregularities.
The Election Commission said it had received more than 1,000 complaints, but the majority of those were about registration problems and were resolved.
The head of the Commonwealth observer mission said he hoped the registration problems would be resolved in the second round.
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