Faris Maumoon has announced his decision to not support any presidential candidate.
The second round of the presidential election is scheduled to be held on September 30 after none of the candidates received 50% of the votes to win in the first round. The two candidates who moved on to the second round are Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, the candidate of the opposition People's National Congress (PNC), and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the candidate of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
Faris ran in the presidential election as an independent and received 1.35% or 2,797 votes. President Solih and Dr. Muizzu have invited Faris to form a coalition with them for the second round of the election and Faris in turn have submitted proposals for the candidates to accept before agreeing to a coalition.
At a press conference, Faris said that neither candidate offered an adequate manifesto and that he has held meetings with the two candidates to discuss including his policies on national reform. He, however, said that he has decided not to support any of the candidates after failing to come to an agreement, adding that he is not confident of their conviction to implement the necessary reforms to governance.