Maldives election officials have said they will honour a court order preventing a presidential run-off vote.
The independent Maldivian Elections Commission ended a standoff with the Supreme Court by agreeing to delay indefinitely a ballot scheduled for Saturday, as a constitutional crisis over stalled elections on the honeymoon islands deepened.
"The Supreme Court has ordered security services to prevent any effort to hold the election on Saturday," the Commission said in a statement.
"This is why we are not able to hold the run-off election within the constitutional deadline of 21 days of the first round."
It added that the environment in the atoll nation was "not conducive for a free, fair and democratic election".
As it became clear the vote would not take place, hundreds of opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) activists stepped up their nightly protests in the capital island Male.
Some of the activists were seen clashing with police, who made several arrests in a scene that has played out routinely in the capital in recent months.
MDP supporters have taken to displaying white underpants in public to taunt Supreme Court judge Ali Hameed, who was allegedly filmed during a sex romp in a video that has gone viral.
The court has angered the MDP and been criticised by the international community for suspending the runoff round of presidential elections at which MDP candidate Mohamed Nasheed was expected to do well after winning the first round with 45.45 per cent of the popular vote.
The run-off has been halted pending a petition by the third-placed candidate, who challenged the result and said he should be facing Nasheed in the final two-way race.
The Maldives has resisted international pressure to ensure the run-off takes place without delay and outgoing President Mohamed Waheed has maintained that they must allow the legal process to take its course.
