Kandy District Parliamentarian Faizer Mustapha said that the decision to support Maithripala Sirisena was not taken solely because of the Bodu Bala Sena.

Speaking at a media briefing to announce his decision he said that he despise any kind of extremism, whether it be Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslim. He explained that as a Muslim politician, he never wants to see that.

He added that 65% of the votes he received in Kandy District were Sinhala Buddhist votes. The main reason for this was the fact that he rejected extremism, Mustapha argued. He added that no other politician from a minority community can claim to have received such a high percentage of Sinhala Buddhist votes.

Mustapha was a Deputy Minister of the UPFA government and was also the SLFP Organizer of Colombo Central.