MOSCOW, October 29 (RIA Novosti) - The outgoing Maldives president, known as Asia's longest serving leader, has lost the country's presidential elections to a former political prisoner.

In the second round of the country's first democratic multi-party elections on Tuesday, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, 71, received 45.75% of the vote, while Mohamed Nasheed, 41, the Maldivian Democratic Party candidate, won 54.25% of the vote.

"I thank the people of the Maldives for allowing me to serve them for 30 years," Gayoom, who has ruled the Indian Ocean archipelago since 1978 and won six previous single-party elections, told the Voice of Maldives radio station.

The run-off came 20 days after the first round when Gayoom won 40.63% of the vote while Nasheed polled 25.09%. Both candidates failed to receive over 50% of the vote needed for outright victory.

The pro-democracy leader Nasheed, commonly referred to as Anni, is an outspoken critic of Gayoom's rule and was arrested and served prison sentences on several occasions.

He was granted political asylum in the U.K. in 2004 while in self-imposed exile returning to the Maldives in 2005 after a ban on opposition parties was lifted.

Nasheed has promised democratic changes in the country.

Nasheed will assume office in the second week of November after he has officially been declared the winner.