Basil reiterates call for Sri Lanka parliamentary polls before presidential polls
COLOMBO — Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) national organizer Basil Rajapaksa has told party members that President Ranil Wickremesinghe would be a suitable candidate for the presidential election but the parliamentary polls should be held first, an SLPP MP said.
Parliamentarian S. M. Chandrasena told reporters that Rajapaksa had said President Wickremesinghe is a “skilled leader and a good candidate”.
“What he was indirectly saying was that Mr Wickremesinghe is suitable to run. But he’s also saying that the parliamentary polls should be held first,” Chandrasena said.
Rajapaksa recently told a privately owned television network that the next Parliament will be a more balanced one if parliamentary elections are held before a presidential election and won’t result in any one party monopolizing political power.
The SLPP ideologue said power should not be concentrated on one party.
Constitutionally, Sri Lanka’s next presidential election is due to be held between September 17 and October 17 this year. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who heads a government led by the former rival SLPP, has said that the presidential election will be held before a parliamentary election.
But Wickremesinghe hasn’t yet said definitively that he intends to contest the election.
Government spokesmen have also alluded to proposals to abolish the executive presidency this year, which would effectively render the prospects of a presidential election null and void.
The SLPP is currently trailing behind other parties in several voting intent polls.
Meanwhile, the general secretary of President Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) Palitha Range Bandara claimed his leader told the cabinet of ministers that he intends to contest the presidential poll.
The former parliamentarian told a television talk show on a privately owned channel on Monday (18) that Wickremesinghe will contest the election, not from the UNP, but as a neutral candidate. Bandara was ostensibly referring to a grand alliance that has been speculated to be formed under the UNP leadership.
President Wickremesinghe, however, has yet to officially announce his candidacy. And in what had all the appearance of a campaign launch event held on March 10, he did not explicitly express his intention to run.
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