MDP Presidential Candidate President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih says he was not upset with the results of the first round of the Presidential Election but remained hopeful and now understands what needs to be improved for the second round.
President Solih came in second with 86,161 votes in the first round of the election held on the 9th of this month as PNC Candidate Dr. Mohamed Muizzu secured first place with a whopping 101,635 votes.
The duo will now compete head-to-head in the Presidential run-off scheduled for this Saturday.
Both candidates are currently in Add City for their final round of campaigning in the southern city.
Speaking to his supporters in Hithadhoo, President Solih said that after the first round of the election, he noticed three things that MDP must improve for the election.
President Solih identified that MDP had failed to be prepared till the last day of campaigning and that this was clearly evident in the result.
He noted that MDP had not been able to visit some houses in the first round of the election and even could not even reach some voters via phone. The President said that voters faced issues in transport on voting day and that the party had failed to make arrangements for the voters.
The MDP Candidate highlighted that, unlike previous elections, MDP was unable to keep counting the exit polls, it was unable to keep monitors for some ballot boxes but that they have now made all the arrangements for the second round of voting.
President Solih said that the second reason MDP had noticed was the internal diversion within the party that saw a breakaway political party being formed. He said that because of the division, MDP lost the majority of some cities and islands in the first round.
As the third point, the President highlighted the government's inability to adequately squash the lies the opposition was spreading during the Presidential campaign.
President Solih said that in the last five years, the administration has done much for the citizens of the country but sadly there were many who had fallen for the lies of the opposition.
He further said that in the last 16 days, the government tried hard to bring out the truth against these lies and the results of this would be evident on Saturday.
