Leader of the UNF Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday that General Sarath Fonseka’s nomination as Presidential candidate was subject to his acceptance of the UNF’s ten-point policy statement.
Wickremesinghe said that a decision on the Presidential candidate would be taken only after an election was announced and he was confident that Fonseka had a clear understanding of the UNF policies.
"There is no reason to assume that General Fonseka is not a democrat," he said.
Among the conditions put forward for Fonseka’s candidature are that he must abolish the executive presidency or substantially reduces its powers in the event of being elected President, provide the TNA and JVP important portfolios in his Cabinet, ensure the speedy resettlement of northern IDPs, establish all the independent commissions required to ensure good governance and appoint Wickremesinghe as the caretaker Prime Minister...... (Read More)
If the Government decides to hold the Presidential election first, the United National Front (UNF) will willingly accept the challenge, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake MP said yesterday.
Addressing a prèss conference at the office of the leader of the Opposition, Attanayake said that the moment the Elections Commissioner announces the Presidential Election, the UNF would disclose its common candidate.
He said that the UNP had resolved not to divulge the identity of the common candidate or its strategy to fight the elections until an official announcement is made.
He also said that whichever election is held first, the Commissioner of Elections should devise methods to ensure that it would be conducted in a fair and just manner and should ensure that the Government does not make use of State resources as in the case of provincial council elections conducted in the recent past.
Mangala Samaraweera, the chief architect of the UNP led alliance and the principal advocate of the strategy of fielding a common candidate at the next presidential elections, speaks to C.A.Chandraprema about several important political issues of the present moment. Among the matters discussed in this interview are; the absence of a viable presidential candidate in the newly formed UNP-led alliance, and the feasibility or otherwise of fielding a non-politician against president Rajapaksa. Another question discussed was whether the JVP, which will be a part of the opposition backing the common candidate, will try to use their cadres to dominate the UNP during the campaign and even afterwards. (Read More)
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is likely to declare a Presidential Election shortly, highly placed government sources said yesterday.
According to the Constitution, the President can make the announcement for a presidential election after the completion of four years in office. The President will complete his fourth year tomorrow.
Unconfirmed sources last night said the election was likely to be held on January 23. .............(Read More)
Opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday challenged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to declare a presidential election adding that the opposition would then announce who its presidential candidate was going to be.
“We are prepared to face whatever election is declared whether it is a presidential election or a general election and depending on what it will be,
the UNP-led United National Front will announce the name of its presidential candidate,” Mr. Wickremesinghe told a news conference.
He said the President had not kept his promises after the war victory and once again he had failed to keep to his promise by not declaring the presidential election at the SLFP convention on November 15. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem said the government’s failure or inability to declare an election was a battle half won by the opposition. (Read More)
The United National Front said yesterday that if President Mahinda Rajapaksa did not keep his word on holding elections, they would take their campaign to the streets.
Leaders of the UNF, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Rauff Hakeem, Mangala Samaraweera, Sirimasiri Hapuarachchi and Sarath Manawadu told a news conference in Colombo that President Mahinda Rajapaksa who had boasted of advancing the date of the Presidential Polls should not back track now. "If he does not give us an election, we will take our campaign to the streets."
Leader of the UNP Ranil Wickremesinghe said that with the end of the war, Rajapaksa spoke of a vision and a development plan for the country, but that had not happened. On the contrary, only the Rajapaksa family had enriched itself, he alleged.
"On November 15, the strong man of Medamulana, gave a speech that only a street thug would engage in," Wickremesinghe said. "The economy is in shambles and the government is unable to pay the salaries of workers. The health and education systems have collapsed and human rights of the people are being violated with impunity," Wickremesinghe said.
President Rajapaksa, he said was drifting and had let down his own party Convention by not listening to their demand for a Presidential Poll but the UNF demanded and was ready for any election.
The UNF will announce its Presidential candidate only after an election was announced, its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.
Asked as to who the UNF’s Prime Ministerial nominee would be, SLFP (M) leader Mangala Samaraweera said that it will be Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Wickremesinghe, when questioned of the crossover provision, which has resulted in the number of ministers in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government zooming to 108 would be abolished by a UNF government, replied in the affirmative.
"Yes, we intend doing that. But the details have to be worked out."
Told that the abolition of the crossover provision would be effective only if it applies to both government and opposition MPs, he replied, "it will work both ways."
The Kelaniya University has sought two more months to explain the suspension and a disciplinary inquiry against its employee Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, who is the media spokesman for local election monitor CaFFE.
The Court of Appeal today (Nov. 17) took up a petition filed by Mr. Tennakoon challenging his suspension and the conduct of the inquiry as being unlawful.
With this request made by the Attorney General?s Department, a total period of three months has been sought so far to submit the explanations sought from the respondents.
Mr. Tennakoon was suspended by the university for making a statement as the CaFFE spokesman that malpractices had taken place at the last eastern provincial council elections.
JVP M.P. Anura Kumara Dissanayake said, the President yesterday (15), after questioning from the party members at the convention whether it is the Presidential or General elections they want first, and when they raised their hands and wanted the Presidential elections, the President then stating that this will be referred to the party and answered later, had insulted the party members and the constitution.
In any party constitution the highest place is for the party Convention. The Central Committee and the political Council come below it. But, at yesterday’s convention, it was the President who took the upper hand, Dissanayake pointed out.
A new political party, Workers National Front (WNF) has been formed in the upcountry by an Up-country People’s Front (UPF) Councillor P. Digambaram, from the Central Provincial Council.
The new party will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the recently formed United National Front, on Wednesday.
President of WNF, P. Digambaram, told Daily Mirror yesterday that he had taken steps to form a new party since not a single party represented the requirements of the estate community at the moment.
He has already requested the Election Commissioner to register his party as a recognized party in Sri Lanka.
A former member of the Up-country People’s Front (UPF), Mr. Digambaram said he left the UPF due to differences with the party leaders.
“The party leaders didn’t allow us to work and help the estate workers and that’s why I left the party and formed the WNF,” he said.
