New Left Front leader Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne yesterday accused former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Air chief Marshal Doneld Perera, Sri Lankan ambassador to Israel for insulting Palestine.

NLF leader Karunaratne said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa should recall Ambassador Perera and initiate disciplinary action against him. (Read More)

The UNP requests the government to implement the 17 amendment and appoint a commission to make the talks between the ruling party and the UNP to be more meaningful and transparent on constitutional amendments.

 The UNP pointed out if the government wants to amend the Constitution create premiership with executive powers, it must first of all the 17th amendment should be implemented with the consensus of all parties. (Read More)

UNP Parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa yesterday said he would make it known whether to contest for the party leadership or not, only after the new party constitution was introduced based upon recommendations by the Reforms Committee.

The Committee has recommended that all five key positions in the UNP including the post of leader should be appointed through a secret ballot whenever there was no consensus on these appointments.

Asked whether he would contest the leadership, Mr. Premadasa said he could answer that question only in reference to the provisions of the present constitution.“The new constitution is yet to be introduced. Therefore, I cannot answer your question hypothetically now. Once the new constitution is in place, I can answer your question,” he said. (Read More)

A divergence of opinion has emerged between the Government and the Opposition on replacing the executive presidency with an executive premiership under the proposed Constitutional reforms.

An opposition delegation, led by UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, met External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris yesterday regarding the proposed l reforms.

SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem, who also participated at this meeting, told Daily Mirror that there were different opinions expressed by the two sides on the power to dissolve Parliament and immunity. Mr. Hakeem said the Opposition had wanted to know the Government’s proposed changes -- especially with regard to the implementation of the 17th Amendment. (Read More)

Kandy District UNP Parliamentarian, Lakshman Kiriella, yesterday said the UNP will participate in talks with the government on constitutional amendments or any other matter, only if the latter provides a specific agenda.

"If the government was to win the confidence of the opposition, it should first implement the 17th Amendment to the Constitution," he said.(Read More)

UNP MP for the Moneragala district Ranjith Madduma Bandara said yesterday that he, along with his colleague MP Sajith Premadasa, would agitate for the voting right to the party’s local government members in the election of five key office bearers including the leader.

Earlier, MP Premadasa, in his meeting with the members of the Reforms Committee, made this proposal. He opined that the party’s grassroots level members should have a say in the appointment of the party leader. However, the Committee has not included this proposal in its report submitted to the Working Committee recently. As things stand today, only the members of the Working Committee and the Parliamentary Group can participate in this ballot. (Read More)

Raising a question of privilege in parliament Gen. Fonseka held the Army Commander responsible for the breach of his parliamentary privileges by not allowing him to attend a Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting on

July 16.

He said he was now in the custody of the Prison Authorities according to a Court order.(Read More)

The UNP was more democratic than the SLFP, since it has given the power of electing its leaders to a wider section of the party, Parliamentarian Lakshman Kiriella said yesterday.

The UNP has entrusted the power of electing its leader and key office bearers to the party as a whole, unlike the SLFP Central Committee which was essentially centralised, Kiriella said.(Read More)

The Commissioner of Elections, on July 19, 2010, filed his Preliminary objections, in the Supreme Court, to the Presidential Election Petition filed by General (retd) Sarath Fonseka.

Therefore, the Election petition should be dismissed in limine, he said.

The preliminary objections had pointed out as baseless the allegations made by Fonseka against persons such as Hudson Samarasinghe, Razeek Zarook, Kalinga Indatissa and Wimal Weerawansa.(Read More)

The registration of the voters’ list for 2010 has begun but allegations persist that the distribution of forms is being carried out in a selective manner.

The distribution of registration forms started on June 1 but several residents in Colombo complained that they were yet to receive the forms and they feared they could be deprived of their voting rights as happened to tens of thousands of city residents during the 2004 elections.

Dismissing the allegations, Assistant Elections Commissioner P.M. Siriwardana said the distribution was proceeding smoothly but the process was slow because of a shortage of grama niladharis.
He said the department had recruited additional persons to assist the grama niladaris in the distribution process.

However, People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said complaints had been received that grama niladaris and his workers were selective in their distribution of the forms in several areas and this could lead to some voters being deprived of a vote. He said that according to complaints, in some areas in the south, forms were being distributed in a haphazard manner.

Mr. Hettiarachchi said some people had been asked to produce a letter or documents to prove their earlier residencies also if they wanted to be registered as voters. (Read More)