MALE, Maldives: The United States sharply rebuked the Maldives’ top court after it suspended a presidential election runoff scheduled for Sunday, blocking a vote for the third time in two months.

“Efforts by the Supreme Court to repeatedly and unduly interfere in the electoral process subverts Maldives’ democracy and takes decision-making out of the hands of the people,” the US embassy to the Maldives and Sri Lanka said in a strongly-worded statement from Colombo.

Mohamed Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected leader who was ousted in February 2012, accused the court of deliberately delaying the elections to try to block his return to power.

Nasheed had appeared set to return to office after winning almost 47 percent of the vote in the first round of voting on Saturday. His challenger in the runoff would have been Abdulla Yameen, half-brother of the country’s former autocratic ruler Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who won almost 30 percent.

But the candidate who placed third on Saturday had insisted his supporters need more time to decide who to back in the runoff.

Just hours before the runoff vote was due to begin, the Supreme Court postponed it until Nov. 16, despite a constitutional deadline of Nov. 11 to elect a new president.

“All relevant state authorities are informed that today’s election cannot take place,” the court said in its pre-dawn decision. The 2008 constitution, which ended 30 years of one-party rule by Gayoom, states that the new president must be elected by the time the outgoing president’s term ends on Monday.

“Next week, the Supreme Court will again use some flimsy excuse to delay the election and we will be back to square one,” Nasheed told reporters.

“We don’t think there is a conducive environment for elections (in the Maldives).”

Gayoom packed the judiciary and security forces with supporters during his iron-fisted rule before his ousting in a 2008 election.

Nasheed’s comments will fuel suspicions that even if he eventually wins elections, he could still be thwarted.

Nasheed also repeated his demand for the current president to step down until the crisis over elections is resolved.

Nasheed’s party has warned that the country could be heading for a constitutional crisis without a leader on Monday, although the Supreme Court has ruled that outgoing President Mohamed Waheed can remain as a caretaker.

Nasheed resigned in February 2012 following demonstrations and a mutiny by security forces, which he denounced as a coup engineered by Waheed and former strongman Gayoom.

He swept to victory in the first round of elections on Sept. 7 with 45 percent of the vote and was seen as front-runner in a second round run-off against Yameen scheduled for three weeks later.

But that run-off never happened because the Supreme Court annulled the first round after a defeated candidate linked to Gayoom complained of fraud. International and domestic election observers had said the voting was free and fair.

Police action prevented a second vote on October 19 following another court ruling that procedures had not been followed, adding to suspicions among foreign governments that authorities were determined to prevent Nasheed returning to power at any price.

Gayoom himself welcomed the court’s latest move which he said “would make it possible to have a credible election.”

Despite the political chaos, the streets of Male were calm on Sunday. Most protests and demonstrations usually take place in the evenings or late in the night.