The UNP Reforms Committee which introduced reforms to the party’s Constitution will embark on a mission today to bring about changes to the party’s electoral and district organisations.

The Committee will meet the representatives of the various party-affiliated organisations, and provincial council and local government members from today till Friday to seek their views on the proposals for political reforms to the party’s organisational structure at grassroots level.

The Reforms Committee submitted its major report to the Working Committee a fortnight ago and received its approval. (Read More)

The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) has decided to ask for a parliamentary debate on the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) to be signed with India.

The DNA has renewed its objection to this agreement in the backdrop of the lapse of ten years for the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) signed with India.

Party’s General Secretary Vijitha Herath told Daily Mirror yesterday that the government should disclose the contests of this CEPA agreement to Parliament immediately.

“That is why we are going to move an adjournment motion in this regard. Sri Lanka has had more minuses than plusses in terms of the SAFTA. We fear whether the CEPA will put Sri Lanka at a disadvantageous position,” he said. (Read More)

The Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) which has carried out a survey revealed that only 150,000 Tamil voters in the Colombo District had registered with the Department of Elections out of some 225,000 who are eligible to vote in the district.

In addition the research had also revealed that there were a large number of Tamil people in the districts of Gampaha, Kalutara, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Matale, Ratnapura, Kegalle and Puttalam who were not registered
The survey has revealed that only 68% of the total Tamil population was currently registered. Therefore nearly 300,000 eligible Tamil citizens have not been registered as voters in the electoral registers according to the survey.

DPF leader Mano Ganesan in a recent letter addressed to the Elections Commissioner said no reforms would be complete unless it incorporated a free fair voter registration process “The Elections department should take additional efforts to correct this under registration before any Electoral reforms,” he said. (Read More)

In a hard-hitting interview over Al Jazeera this week, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the people would kick the Rajapaksas out of power the day they felt that the family had failed to deliver. He declared that he was quite confident that he would win the next election, irrespective of whether he was contesting for the post of president or prime minister.

“Yes, I don’t mind if it’s the Presidential system, or the Prime Minister system. I have no problem, because I’m going to win again,” the President said.

Strongly defending the security forces' conduct during the war, the President told Al Jazeera that the civilians in the LTTE controlled areas would not have crossed over to the government controlled areas if they had not had confidence in the government troops. (Read More)

United National Party (UNP) General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said yesterday he had no authority to take disciplinary action against North Western Province UNP councillor Sisira Abeysekera who was alleged to have attacked party’s Puttalam district MP Palitha Range Bandara. 

Mr. Attanayake said it was the working committee which had to take action against the provincial councillor who had been charge-sheeted and had to respond to it before Monday. (Read More)

W. A. Krishantha Pushpakumara has said that the procedure adopted by the Election Department was malafide and irregular. Pushpakumara has challenged the election of Gayantha Karunathilake and Manusha Nanayakkara as UNP MPs from Galle.

The petitioner requested the SC to cancel the declared results of the UNP and to order a re-count of the preferential votes polled by all the UNP candidates. (Read More)

New parliamentarians are in for a mega bonanza with the Cabinet yesterday approving the grant of permits to import duty free vehicles for them up to the CIF value of US$ 50,000 each, government sources said.

The members of the previous parliament were permitted to import duty free vehicles up to the CIF value of US$ 35,000. Cabinet sources said the higher concession was given due to the steep rise in world market prices of vehicles.

The Cabinet also decided to arrange loan facilities from the Bank of Ceylon for MPs to import vehicles using these concessions.(Read More)

UNP Puttalam District MP Palitha Range Bandara said yesterday that he had decided to keep away from all party activities, including working committee meetings and district meetings, as the party had failed to take action against the provincial council member who had allegedly stabbed him.

Mr. Range Bandara told Daily Mirror yesterday that it was sad to see party taking a lethargic approach in dealing with the provincial council member who attacked him just after the general elections.

“One cannot understand why the party has failed to take action against this drunkard member of the provincial council,” he said. (Read More)

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), after a fact finding mission in the resettled areas, said yesterday that people appear to be using the monies given by the government to purchase , first due to the transport problems.

For a resettled family, the government gives Rs. 25,000. Of this amount, Rs 5000 is given in cash, and the rest as a bank deposit.

TNA National List MP   M. A. Sumanthiran told Daily Mirror that he observed, in one or two villages, that people had used these deposits mainly to buy bicycles. Mr. Sumanthiram said that the public transport is a major issue confronting the resettled families in most areas. Also, he noted that, in some areas, people had not received these monies from the government authorities. (Read More)

The proposals submitted by the Joseph Michael Perera Reforms Committee (JMPRC) have been accepted in principle by the UNP Working Committee (WC), subject to the views expressed by the party’s local and provincial council members, the UNP’s Senior Vice President John Amaratunga said on Monday.

Amaratunga, who was also a member of the Reform Committee, told the The Island, that the Working Committee did not adopt the proposed changes last Friday, as reported in certain sections of the media (not The Island).

"When the Working Committee met on Friday evening, Joseph Michael Perera submitted the reform proposals to all its members. It was accepted on principle, subject to the views that were to be called from the membership at grass roots level. The WC, will be asked to take a decision, only after the rank and file in the UNP have spoken. (Read More)