The new constitution, which is due to be signed off later this month, replaces the current legislation put in place since 1998.

"Under the new constitution, we will have independent commissions for elections, police and judiciary," visiting Maldives' Commissioner of Legal Reform, Mohamed Anil told reporters in Colombo.

The new constitution also includes provisions to limit the tenure of a president to two six-year terms and also allows women to head the nation of 369,000 Sunni Muslims.

The newly minted showcase piece of legislation will be put to the test this year, when the archiepelago holds its first multi-party presidential hustings on August 9. Parliamentary polls are scheduled to be held before next March.

Opposition parties have doubted the government's ability to get independent commissions up and running before the August poll.

"The government is sincere in its intentions. Its a big task, but we are working towards implementing things, including some 200 discrepancies that came out when the Attorney General's officer reviewed the constitution," Anil said.

Asia's longest serving president, Gayoom, 71, has already announced plans to contest the presidency under a new constitution and add to the six terms he has already served since 1978.

Other contenders include the largest opposition party, MDP's presidential hopeful Mohamed Nasheed, Umar Naseer of the Islamic Democratic Party, former Attorney General Hassan Saeed.

About 700 kilometres (435 miles) southwest of Sri Lanka, Maldives is renowned for its luxury resorts built on stilts over clear blue lagoons where the rich and famous pay up to 14,500 dollars a night to live in "isolation", snorkel and scuba dive.