Renowned Maldives professor Hassan Ugail on Wednesday announced his intention to renounce his UK citizenship.
Ugail, the first Maldivian scientist and PhD holder in mathematics who is currently a Professor at the University of Bradford has been a British citizen for 15 years.
"Shortly I shall be submitting my application to renounce my British citizenship which I have been holding for over 15 years," Ugail announced in Facebook post.
"I shall remain just a Maldivian."
Ugail's decision came amid rumours that he was planning to stand for the presidential elections slated for September. He was also rumoured to be one of the names the united opposition was considering as a coalition candidate before chief opposition lawmaker Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was named as the opposition's presidential candidate on Saturday.
The announcement would further fuel the rumours as a presidential hopeful as his decision came in the wake of a ruling party proposed amendment to the electoral framework which states that a Maldivian citizen with dual citizenship or has been granted asylum in a foreign country would only be eligible to contest for the presidency if 10 years have lapsed since the foreign citizenship had been renounced.
But with the amednment expected to be passed by the government controlled parliament later Wednesday, Ugail would have to a decade before he would be eligible to stand for the presidential elections.
