Independent Candidate Faris Maumoon has announced that he would not back any candidate for the upcoming Presidential Run-Off.
Faris made the announcement at a press conference held today.
He said that the country needs system-wide reform and that a candidate from a major party cannot bring about the changes even if he is elected to the Presidency.
Faris said that seeing how political parties are funded and managed, the parties have to prioritize the interest of some other beneficiary rather than the public's interest.
He said that with this practice in place, the party would find it difficult to implement a manifesto like the one he had announced for the first round of the election and that a major political party would be unable to bring about the reform needed.
Faris, who is the eldest son of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, said that the fact that no candidate was able to secure 50 percent of the votes in the first round meant that no candidate had been able to put forth a complete manifesto.
The Election is set to be decided by a run-off scheduled for the 30th of this month with PNC Candidate Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and MDP Candidate President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih set to compete against each other.
Faris received 3,004 votes in the first round which comes up to 1.4 percent of those who voted.
While Faris announced his decision today, JP Candidate Qasim Ibrahim also decided to stay neutral for the second round in an announcement a few days back.
