• SLFP joins Freedom National Congress, Supreme Lanka Coalition, and group led by Anura Yapa 
• Wimal says leadership to be provided collectively
• Sirisena confident of 90% majority vote and notes alliance will continue post-poll
• Dullas notes aligning of 12 major parties with 36 MPs     

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has aligned with several other parties, including the Freedom National Congress and the Supreme Lanka Coalition, to contest in the upcoming Local Government (LG) election under the name of the Freedom People’s Front with the helicopter as their official symbol. 

The formal alliance was made last afternoon (11) at the SLFP head office premises.

Accordingly, the members of the SLFP led by party Chairman former President and current Opposition MP Maithripala Sirisena, the Freedom National Congress led by Opposition MP Dullas Alahapperuma, the Supreme Lanka Coalition led by Opposition MP Wimal Weerawansa, and a group of independent Opposition MPs led by MP Anura Priyadarshana Yapa joined this alliance.

“We have made this historic alliance between our parties to work towards the economic recovery of Sri Lanka. The leadership for this alliance will be provided collectively, with no one person as the leader. We are ready to take any challenging decision for the betterment of this country,” said Weerawansa while addressing the gathering. Furthermore, commenting on the public statement released by 182 economists worldwide, he emphasised how lenders charged a premium to lend to Sri Lanka to cover their risks under international sovereign bonds, which accrued them massive profits and contributed to Sri Lanka’s first-ever default in April 2022. 

“Lenders who benefited from higher returns because of the ‘risk premium’ must be willing to take the consequences of that risk,” he said, adding that the statement mentions how the opening up and liberalisation of the economy has only enabled political corruption to be emboldened.

Addressing the gathering, Sirisena declared the alliance’s confidence in gaining the majority vote at the poll, stating that championing democracy and the freedom of the citizens while devising a practical economic recovery plan for the country were their election pledges. “Our alliance is confident in gaining a 90% majority vote in the upcoming LG election. Democracy and the freedom of the people should be upheld to emerge from the economic crisis and this would be championed internationally too. We have now lost the support of important diplomatic allies such as Japan and Europe, and to save this country from this situation, this alliance will first emerge successful from the LG election only to move forward towards other challenges that remain domestically as well as internationally. We are confident to formulate plans as well as to implement them to emerge from this economic crisis while also pioneering democratic freedom in the country,” said Sirisena.

Alahapperuma too expressed his views, adding: “We legally took the lead to safeguard the democracy of the country while securing the election system in the country recently. What we are introducing today is not merely a political alliance, but one with the inclusion of 12 major political parties in the country with 36 MPs who represent 17 districts out of the 22 electoral districts in the country. We would also like to invite any progressive political forces to join us to work towards the betterment of the country.”