The Election Commission (EC) is to declare the legality of the changes made to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) including the appointment of the Party's Senior Vice President (VP), Minister and attorney Nimal Siripala de Silva as its Acting Chairperson during its Politburo meeting on Monday (8), after studying the relevant documents and the Party's constitution.
Recent controversy associated with the SLFP took a new turn with the Election of de Silva as its Acting Chairperson by the SLFP's Politburo which met on Monday in Colombo under the observation of former President and incumbent SLFP Patron, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Following his appointment, the Party's National Organiser, Opposition Parliamentarian Duminda Dissanayake had handed over the relevant documents to the EC Chairperson, R.M.A.L. Rathnayake.
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (9), Rathnayake said that the EC is yet to make a decision on the legality of the relevant changes made to the SLFP. “It is the EC that decides on the legality of any changes to a political party. They handed us a set of documents on Monday, and we received them. We are currently studying them. When it is done, the relevant submissions will be made to the Commission (EC Commissioners), and they will decide whether the changes are legal or not.”
It is also learned that the SLFP led by former President and incumbent Opposition MP Maithripala Sirisena has removed certain Politburo members and appointed members anew, but that the Party has not informed the EC of it. For instance, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna, MP Duminda Dissanayake and former MP Weerakumara Dissanayake are Politburo members according to the documents that have been submitted to the EC, but, their names are not mentioned in a list of names of Politburo members prepared on 31 March.
Rathnayake said that it considers only the documents that are in their (EC) possession when making decisions.
In consideration of a complaint filed by Kumaratunga, the Colombo District Court late last week issued an interim injunction, temporarily barring Sirisena as the SLFP Chairperson. Following the issuance of an interim injunction, de Silva had, in his capacity as the Party's Senior VP, requested the Party's General Secretary, Opposition MP Sarathi Dushmantha Mithrapala to convene an urgent Politburo meeting. The latter had then informed de Silva that he (Mithrapala) could not convene such a meeting since he is yet to receive the relevant Court order. It was against that backdrop that de Silva had called the SLFP's Politburo for a meeting at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. Several members of the Politburo such as de Silva, Amaraweera, Alagiyawanna, Duminda Dissanayake, Weerakumara Dissanayake and President's Counsel Faiszer Musthapha attended it, and de Silva was appointed as the Party's Acting Chairperson during it.