Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has held discussions with former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom-founded Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) for a possible alliance ahead of the runoff polls.
MRM leader Ahmed Faris Maumoon, who was among the contenders of the first round of the presidential election, said that he shared his political and socio-economic reform policies with MDP.
He said implementation of the policies were crucial to attain democratic reform, establish justice, and social equality.
Despite holding a meeting, MRM did not arrive to a formal decision on Wednesday evening's meeting.
While the parties met ahead of the runoff polls, MDP extended an invitation to MRM before the first round of elections for an alliance, which was denied by the party. Instead, they decided to field Faris as a presidential candidate. He chose to contend independently due to the Elections Commission's (EC) decision to deem MRM ineligible as a political party.
MDP entourage was led by Alifushi MP Mohamed Rasheed Hussain, while MRM's team was led by the party's Deputy President Aminath Nadhira.
In addition to the ruling party, the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and People's National Congress (PNC) coalition also sought coalition possibilities with Faris-led MRM.
Faris, who faced defeat in the first round of elections garnering only 2,979 votes, said his party would ally with whichever of the leading parties agrees with MRM's policies and promises to fulfill them.
With eight candidates contending in the presidential race during the first round, PPM/PNC coalition candidate and Malé City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu took lead with over 100,000 votes while MDP candidate and incumbent president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih came in second with over 86,000 votes.
Unlike previous years, Jumhooree Party (JP) leader did not secure third spot and came fifth with a little over 5,000 votes whereas the newly formed The Democrats candidate Ilyas Labeeb came third with over 15,000 votes.
Following the first round results, MDP extended invitations to other parties to join their coalition, including the Maldives National Party (MNP) led by Mohamed Nazim, who also ran in the first round. However, Nazim and his party have recently formally allied with PPM/PNC.
Although MDP reached out to The Democrats, founded by the ruling party's former leader Mohamed Nasheed, for an alliance, Nasheed, while speaking at a recent parliament sitting, indicated that this was unlikely.
The "king maker" of previous elections, Qasim Ibrahim, and his JP remained the other major political player with an unconfirmed decision.
However, President Solih met Qasim at Sun Island resort on Wednesday afternoon for coalition talks. However, an official decision has yet to be made by JP.
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