• RW blames Jayampathy for 19A confusion; Jayampathy denies accusation, says in line with MS’s pledge
• Doubts over legality of gazette ordered by RW who is not subject minister; action mooted against 22A
• EC to call for polls despite 22A gazette; RW could hold gazette without tabling in House to prevent action
• Basil, Namal, Sagara urge holding of Prez Polls without delays; MR ready to support RW if he accepts SLPP
• Two surveys by Opposition and Govt. sides show marginal increase for RW, Sajith; AKD shows decline
• UNP rally in Kadawatha today gathers stiff opposition from SLPP; Prasanna tries hard to solve issues
• RW campaign meet intensifies over failures; Mahindananda points to failures, seeks new campaign runners
• Sagala brings PMD’s Dhanushka to sit at meet; other RW loyalists Dinith, Shanuka, Lasantha displeased
• Prasanna appoints Wijayananda, Pradeep to campaign; Dhanushka takes over media, Dinith moves out
• RW loses cool, scolds Sagala over Dhanushka; Archana takes charge of M2M Verandah Office campaign
• EC to release 16 new symbols for independent candidates; RW campaign turns to ‘heart’ as symbol
• Prasanna sidelined at ops. meet at Party Headquarters; Johnston takes the lead, organisers displeased
• SJB to axe Rajitha, Sarath, Kumara; positions to be given to SLPP dissidents, upsetting original SJBers
• Dayasiri’s new alliance to also join SJB; holds talks with Sajith’s reps while claiming to be SLFP Gen. Sec.
• SLFP Exec. Committee meets, decides to reconstitute UPFA; coalition partners attend Wednesday meet

That President Ranil Wickremesinghe is working according to his own agenda of trying to create confusion over the holding of the Presidential Election is now evident with his move to gazette the controversial 22nd Amendment despite a directive by his Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to hold the gazetting of the piece of legislation until the conclusion of the election.

The irony of Wickremesinghe’s latest drama is the fact that he had first presented to Parliament the 19th Amendment to the Constitution as the Prime Minister of the then ‘Yahapalana’ Government on 24 March 2015 and that it took all these years for him to remember the so-called shortcoming in the 19th Amendment.

The gazetting of the 22nd Amendment also indicates the chaos within the Government as well, with Rajapakshe on Thursday (18) announcing the temporary halting of the gazette while Wickremesinghe on Friday (19) evening ordered the issuing of the gazette.

It is also interesting that both Wickremesinghe and Rajapakshe spent Friday morning together at an event to open the new court complex in Galle. The duo was captured smiling and talking to each other at the event as well. It also goes to show the deceptive nature of politics. Rajapakshe said on Friday that he would not take any responsibility for the repercussions of the gazette.

However, as soon as news of the gazette became public, Opposition political parties and civil society members, especially lawyers’ groups, prepared counter action against moves to delay the Presidential Election.

However, there are doubts over the validity of the 22nd Amendment gazette since it was not issued by the subject Minister. The question then arises whether Wickremesinghe ordered the gazette since the Cabinet paper on the proposed amendment was jointly presented by him and Rajapakshe.

Nevertheless, the move by Wickremesinghe to proceed with the 22nd Amendment that will likely require a two-thirds majority in Parliament and a referendum amidst a Presidential Election campaign will definitely result in litigation, not to mention the opening of a whole Pandora’s box.

Be that as it may, the move by President Wickremesinghe and his Government to amend the Constitution by way of a 22nd Amendment, said to clear what is claimed as ‘confusion’ over the President’s term of office, has caused much controversy.

The Cabinet had granted approval to amend Clauses 83(b) to amend the line ‘exceeding six years’ to ‘exceeding five years’. The proposal was presented to the Cabinet by the President and Justice Minister.

The amendment proposed through the new 22nd Amendment will require passage by a two-thirds majority in Parliament as well as passage through a referendum. 

The question posed by Opposition politicians and others including Wickremesinghe’s Government ally Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) National Organiser Namal Rajapaksa is why it took all this time for Wickremesinghe to want to amend the Constitution to clear the so-called ambiguity over the President’s term. This, in the backdrop of the Supreme Court on three occasions clearing that the President’s term is five years.

Namal pointed out during a recent meeting that the 19th Amendment had been in the Constitution since the ‘Yahapalana’ period and that there had been 20th and 21st Amendments that had been passed since then while no one had wanted to amend this so-called confusion-creating clause all these years. “The amendment is now being pushed just weeks before the Election Commission (EC) declares the Presidential Election,” Namal claimed.

Meanwhile, lawyers have also come out against the proposed 22nd Amendment. “If the proposed bill is passed in Parliament by a two-thirds majority, the President must direct the EC to hold a referendum, which must be held within 30 days. Thus, the country will be burdened with two parallel national elections, one happening soon after another, creating chaos. A referendum will cost several billion rupees, while the Government says there is no money for Local Government Elections,” the Lawyers’ Collective said in a statement.

Blaming Jayampathy

However, President Wickremesinghe last Friday blamed senior lawyer Jayampathy Wickramaratne for the existing confusion in the 19th Amendment over the President’s term.

“In 2015, we proposed a new constitutional amendment. Typically, I would have assigned this task to K.N. Choksy, a lawyer. However, since he had passed away, the responsibility fell to lawyer Jayampathy Wickramaratne. He was unable to make the necessary revisions. 

“This oversight is regrettable, and I apologise to the nation for it. There is no need for further discussion on this matter; our country has upheld democracy since 1931,” Wickremesinghe claimed. 

Nevertheless, the President cannot place the whole blame on Wickramaratne since he (Wickremesinghe) was the Prime Minister of the Government that introduced the relevant amendment, and being a constitutional expert, could have addressed the issue at the time.

Wickramaratne yesterday (20) clarified that the 19th Amendment had been prepared and presented in line with the pledge made by then President Maithripala Sirisena during the 2015 Presidential Poll campaign. He explained that Sirisena had not wanted to move with any form of amendment that would require a referendum since he had pledged to some of his allies not to push the country into a referendum.

Election on time

Be that as it may, the EC has said that the proposed 22nd Amendment will not be an impediment for the commission to call the Presidential Election.

In fact, the ongoing chaos created by Wickremesinghe over the Presidential Election has pushed the EC to decide on announcing the date of the poll this coming week after initially stating that the date would be announced at the end of this month.

The only option Wickremesinghe might have at this juncture is to hold on to the gazette and not table it in Parliament to set the rest of the chaos in motion.

Evolving campaigns

With the EC pledging to hold the Presidential Election on time, political circles are also focusing on the campaign theme that would win at the upcoming polls.

In 2005, the Presidential Election campaign was focused on saving the country from terrorism and separatism, resulting in the victory of President Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR). In 2010, it was about post-war development of the country and once again MR won. 

By 2015, the narrative had changed to the need for anti-corruption measures, accountability, and good governance, which saw Sirisena assuming office. It was national security that took precedence in 2019 after the Easter Sunday attacks and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the election.

However, this time around, the Presidential Election campaign narrative will revolve around the ailing economy and recovery, which President Wickremesinghe has taken up as his main slogan.

New perception

Interestingly, the Wickremesinghe Government for the first time was happy with a report released by think tank Verité Research. Usually, findings of Verité Research have irked the Government over what it claimed as negative perspectives on the administration.

The latest ‘Mood of the Nation’ poll by Verité Research has noted that over three times as many people approved of the Government and felt better about the economy and the country’s economic trajectory compared to four months ago.

The survey revealed that the approval rating of the Government had more than tripled to 24% in July, up from 7% in February. Current economic conditions were rated as either ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ by 28% of respondents, marking a threefold increase from 9% in February.

Nevertheless, despite the Verité Research survey, several surveys assigned by two politically aligned individuals, one affiliated to the Opposition and the other affiliated to the Government, have been received recently.

Although statistics of the two reports may differ, the common feature in both surveys seen by ‘The Black Box’ is that President Wickremesinghe’s popularity has seen a minor increase of around 2% while Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Leader Sajith Premadasa’s popularity has shown a considerable increase. However, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) has witnessed a slight drop in popularity.

The survey conducted for the Government side has shown Wickremesinghe’s numbers have increased from 13.05% to 18.99% and Premadasa’s have increased from 24.42% to 28.3% while AKD’s numbers have dropped from 24.68% to 20.76%.

Both survey reports show that Premadasa is still at the top of the list, followed by AKD with President Wickremesinghe still lagging behind in the third slot.

Nevertheless, none of the frontrunners at the upcoming Presidential Election hold a majority of the country’s vote base, with the undecided voter component continuing to remain in the 40% range.

UNP in Kadawatha

Meanwhile, the United National Party (UNP) has organised a rally in Kadawatha today (21) as the third meeting under the ‘Victory through Unity’ series of islandwide rallies. The rally is organised by UNP Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene and SLPP Minister Prasanna Ranatunga.

However, the Kadawatha rally is facing some resistance, with SLPP organisers refusing to participate, saying it is not one of the SLPP. State Minister Prasanna Ranaweera is also among the SLPPers refusing to attend the rally and even yesterday, the organisers were trying to convince the likes of Ranaweera to attend the meeting with other SLPP Gampaha organisers.

Two rallies have already been held under this series in Matara and Kandy. Both these rallies were organised by the SLPP Ministers in Government. However, the lead in the Kadawatha rally was taken by the UNP.

Basil and Co. to EC

While President Wickremesinghe and his loyalists seem to be exploring ways to delay the holding of the Presidential Election by pushing a constitutional amendment that requires a referendum, SLPP theoretician Basil Rajapaksa, National Organiser Namal, and General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam last week pushed for the holding of the Presidential Election on time.

Basil, Namal, and Kariyawasam made their way to the EC office as soon as commission Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake announced that the Presidential Election would be announced during the end of the month.

The SLPP officials during the meeting with the EC had urged that the Presidential Election be held without any delays. Namal had noted that the ongoing debate on the President’s term was irrelevant since the Supreme Court had cleared the term.

Failed campaign

Meanwhile, President Wickremesinghe’s weekly campaign propaganda meeting last Monday (15) was an intense event, with SLPP MPs complaining about shortcomings in the ongoing series of weekly rallies under the ‘Victory through Unity’ campaign and that it was showing signs of being a failure.

This was pointed out by SLPP MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage. He had complained about the lack of pre- and post-publicity received by the rally held in Kandy last Sunday (14). The Kandy rally was organised by the SLPP’s Dilum Amunugama, Lohan Ratwatte, and Aluthgamage. 

Aluthgamage was of the view that the large number of SLPP ministers and MPs who had attended the meeting should have been pushed to show that Wickremesinghe enjoyed a majority of the SLPP’s support.

He had noted that new people would have to be taken on for propaganda work if the individuals assigned for the purpose at present were failing in their work.

It is learnt that Wickremesinghe’s campaign work is being carried out by a group of individuals under the guidance of Ministers Manusha Nanayakkara, Harin Fernando, Kanchana Wijesekera, and Ranatunga. Staff at the President’s Media Division (PMD) had not been taken into the programme on a Presidential directive.

It was finally decided to get two individuals affiliated to Ranatunga – Wijayananda Herath and Pradeep Kumara – to lead the propaganda campaign with the campaign committee.

It is learnt that only three officials have so far been officially released for the President’s campaign work – Government Information Director General Dinith Chinthaka Karunarathne, PMD Director Shanuka Karunarathne, and Lasantha Weerakulasuriya from the PMD.

Sagala’s move

Meanwhile, President’s Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayaka, who had attended Monday’s meeting, had also brought with him PMD Director General Dhanushka Ramanayake.

Ramanayake, it is learnt, had briefed the gathering about the many shortcomings in the ongoing campaign rallies. His presence at the meeting and Ratnayaka’s proposal to get him to lead the ongoing propaganda campaign had not fared well with many at the meeting, especially Karunarathne, who has been assigned by Wickremesinghe to lead the propaganda campaign from the President’s side. Nanayakkara, Fernando, and other PMD officials at the meeting had been displeased with Ratnayaka’s move to place Ramanayake in the campaign.

It is learnt that there is a division within the PMD at present, with many staff members opposing Ramanayake.

The propaganda committee convened yet another meeting last Tuesday (16) to iron out the issues that had cropped up during the Monday meeting.

However, the same individuals had attended the meeting on Tuesday, including Ramanayake, resulting in Karunarathne informing several confidants that he would take a back seat if there was no clarity on who was heading the campaign work.

Ramanayake had bulldozed his way at the meeting and taken charge of the Kadawatha rally.

RW calls Sagala

With the growing chaos within the campaign and individuals selected by him deciding to move out, the President was angered by Ratnayaka’s move to push Ramanayake.

Wickremesinghe had last week telephoned Ratnayaka and shouted at the latter for going against his (Wickremesinghe’s) decision and placing Ramanayake in the Presidential Election campaign.

‘Aranchiya Asubhai’

Amidst all this chaos within the Wickremesinghe campaign, there was also a discussion on the campaign launched by the Government under the theme ‘Aranchiya Subhai’ (good news) last month.

It was revealed during the propaganda committee meeting that the slogan chosen for the campaign was astrologically not favourable to President Wickremesinghe since the ‘gana’ did not match with the President’s.

One of the MPs at the meeting had then noted that if that were the case it was going to be ‘Aranchiya Asubhai’ (bad news).

Archana’s role

President Wickremesinghe’s campaign – ‘Me Velave Ranil Thamayi’ (It is Ranil at this time) was also launched last week. 

The message of the campaign launch was issued by Wickremesinghe’s campaign office – M2M Verandah Office in Colombo. The coordination work related to the campaign, especially coordinating with foreign experts and sending out the message to campaign stakeholders, was sent out by one Archana. 

There has been much attention on Archana due to the key role played by her in Wickremesinghe’s campaign. Archana plays the role of Campaign Manager most times by taking the lead in many programmes.

However, it was only recently that many had found out that Archana was Minister Ranatunga’s daughter.

Changing tone

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Wickremesinghe’s campaign leads have held many discussions with advertising agencies and experts on matters related to the campaign. 

Many consultations carried out by Wickremesinghe’s campaign officials had resulted in the President changing his tone during public engagements. Last week saw Wickremesinghe, who has been on a pedestal the past few weeks, making speeches on his great work for the country and pushing the public to acknowledge it, changing his tune to actually thank the people for enduring hardships and trusting the Government. This change indicates that he is now prepared to listen to expert opinions.

New symbol

The EC meanwhile is to release 16 new symbols that are to be gazetted shortly. These symbols are for independent candidates at the Presidential Election.

It is learnt that President Wickremesinghe, who is expected to contest as an independent candidate according to his party General Secretary Palitha Rangebandara, is likely to get one of these 16 symbols.

It is also learnt that the Wickremesinghe campaign has already looked at and shortlisted several symbols and that the final decision will be taken once the new list is gazetted.

According to informed sources, the President’s camp is considering the ‘heart’ symbol for him.

Dummy candidates

Meanwhile, the fielding of dummy candidates, which has been witnessed during the past few Presidential Elections, will once again be witnessed this year as well.

The new alliance formed by SLPP dissidents Anura Yapa and Nimal Lanza together with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is looking at fielding a dummy candidate at the polls while supporting President Wickremesinghe.

The dummy candidate being looked at is Siripala Amarasinghe, who is a Basil loyalist and had also contested at the 2019 Presidential Election.

The fielding of dummy candidates supporting main candidates is aimed at expanding the elections network during polls since each candidate gets 22 polling officers islandwide along with access to each polling booth and counting centres.

Meanwhile, a new political party has also entered the Presidential Election fray. The new entrant is a registered political party called the Deshapremi Jana Balaya under the symbol of the rhinoceros.

The party was initially known as the Deshapremi Eksath Jathika Pakshaya and had recently changed its name to Deshapremi Jana Balaya.

It is learnt that the party had extended its support to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the 2019 Presidential Election and has this time decided to field its own candidate at the upcoming polls, once again as a dummy candidate. It is also learnt that the party General Secretary Sugath Hewapathirana is closely associated with SLPP theoretician Basil.

MR ready for RW

SLPP Leader, former President MR meanwhile has said the party is prepared for the Presidential Election and that it will field a common candidate at the polls. He has further noted that the SLPP is willing to support President Wickremesinghe if he is prepared to work together with the party.

“We have the programme that is needed to win at the Presidential Election. The ‘Subha Aranchiya’ (good news) is that we will win the election. When we field the candidate, you will realise how powerful the candidate will be. We have always fielded common candidates. It will be our government that will come next. If the President (Wickremesinghe) is ready to move forward with us, we will extend our support,” MR has added.

Meanwhile, Namal claims that the SLPP will announce the party’s candidate at the upcoming Presidential Election by the end of this month.

He added that the candidate would be one who accepted the SLPP’s policies and would be able to win at an election.

SLPP in 2nd place

 However, SLPP State Minister Ratwatte, who has expressed support to President Wickremesinghe, had recently stated that the SLPP was currently in second place in election-related perception surveys after Opposition and SJB Leader Premadasa.

Speaking at the SLPP Kandy District Election Preparatory Committee meeting on 13 July, Ratwatte said that Premadasa was currently in the lead.

The meeting was attended by SLPP General Secretary Kariyawasam, State Ministers Ratwatte and Amunugama, as well as SLPP MP Aluthgamage.

Rohitha’s changing tune

Meanwhile, SLPP Convenor Rohitha Abeygunawardena, who is considered a Rajapaksa loyalist, had recently made a statement that had taken his friends by surprise.

Following the event that was held recently to mark his 27 years in politics, Abeygunawardena had held a party for a few of his friends and supporters where he had said that the best option for the SLPP was to face elections as a united front instead of going separately. 

He had made this comment referring to the upcoming Presidential Election. “A few of us are trying to get the party to that place,” he had added.

This statement had surprised his friends since they had not expected Abeygunawardena to speak in support of Wickremesinghe.

Several other SLPP seniors such as Johnston Fernando and S.B. Dissanayake have also made statements similar to Abeygunawardena, indicating that the SLPP should support President Wickremesinghe.

Sidelining Prasanna

However, the ongoing split within the SLPP over the party’s support for President Wickremesinghe has resulted in SLPP Minister Ranatunga being sidelined by some groups at the Party Headquarters at Nelum Mawatha, Battaramulla.

SLPP General Secretary Kariyawasam had convened a meeting of the Gampaha District operations at the Party Headquarters last Sunday. 

It is learnt that the Gampaha District operations meetings are usually held at Ranatunga’s office in Udugampola. However, this time around, the meeting had been convened at the SLPP Headquarters in Colombo.

When Ranatunga had inquired from party officials about details of those who had been invited for the meeting, he had been informed that the list was with Kariyawasam. Ranatunga had also been informed that SLPP MP Johnston Fernando had also been invited for the meeting of the Gampaha Operations Committee.

As soon as Fernando had arrived at the Party Headquarters, he had inquired from Ranatunga about the participants and had been informed by Ranatunga that he did not know since the party had organised the meeting.

Since the invitees for the meeting had been slow to turn out, Ranatunga had informed Fernando that he could not wait any longer since he had to be in Kandy for the ‘Victory through Unity’ meeting of the Government.

Finally, Fernando had commenced the meeting without Ranatunga.

When the discussion on the upcoming Presidential Election had commenced, Organiser Piyasena Kariyapperuma had asked whether the SLPP was planning on fielding businessman-turned-politician Dhammika Perera at the polls or support any other candidate. 

Fernando had asked why such a question had been asked since the party had not made any decision on the matter. Kariyapperuma had said that there were stories on television that indicated the party could field Perera. Fernando had denied that the party had made any decision on the matter. He had looked a little annoyed at the question and State Minister Indika Anuruddha who had also been at the meeting had supported Fernando’s statement.

Kariyapperuma had then asked Fernando not to lose his cool over the question since they (the party organisers) also had a right to know about the party’s decision.

Feeling that the discussion was turning into an argument, another Organiser Ranjith Gunawardena had asked Kariyapperuma to calm down since the party had said the decision would be communicated when finalised.

Priyantha Pushpakumara from the Attanagalla electorate had then noted that it was difficult for the party and the organisers to carry out their work without clarity.

Issues within SJB

Meanwhile, the main Opposition SJB also seems to be facing its share of internal issues, with many party organisers beginning to complain of being sidelined by certain decisions of the party leadership.

The SJB is also looking at acting against several errant MPs – Rajitha Senaratne, Sarath Fonseka, and Kumara Welgama. With a majority of the SJB saying that these three MPs should not be given nominations by the SJB in future, it is learnt that the electorates represented by Senaratne, Fonseka, and Welgama will be assigned to SLPP dissidents and former military personnel who have joined the SJB this year.

It is also learnt that some SJB organisers are displeased by what they feel are arbitrary decisions taken by SJB Leader Premadasa and his confidant Lakshman Fonseka. They believe that the increase in supportive public sentiment for Premadasa in the latest opinion polls has resulted in Premadasa assuming that he will be the clear victor at the Presidential Election and is now working in an arbitrary manner.

This disgruntled state of SJB organisers, it is also learnt, is being used by Wickremesinghe loyalists to convince them to join their camp.

With President Wickremesinghe facing difficulties in getting a considerable number of SJBers to cross over to the Government, he might now look at getting SJB electoral organisers to decamp and join him.

Rajitha axed

 The SJB had decided to axe party MP Senaratne from party meetings and rallies. The decision was implemented by the SJB by not inviting Senaratne for the party’s rally in the Kalutara District held in Matugama recently.

Senaratne has already expressed his support to President Wickremesinghe and has made public statements critical of the SJB leadership. In a recent statement, Senaratne had criticised Premadasa for making political speeches at schools during his programme to provide IT labs to rural schools. “His political speeches are useless to schoolchildren and teachers,” he had added.

Replacing Fonseka

Meanwhile, the SJB is also moving ahead with replacing MP Field Marshal Fonseka as the Party Chairman and the SJB Kelaniya Organiser.

It is learnt that the SJB is looking at making the new appointments prior to launching the campaign for the upcoming Presidential Election. It is also learnt that SJB seniors are looking at appointing MP Imthiaz Bakeer Markar as the party’s new chairman while the Kelaniya electorate will be handed over to dissident SLPP MP Nalaka Godahewa.

However, Fonseka in response to moves to remove him from party positions, claimed that SJB leaders could not remove him from the post of Party Chairman or Kelaniya Organiser since the enjoining order issued by court stands until 27 July. Fonseka has said that he was disgruntled by the failure of the SJB to meet the aspirations of all those who had broken away from the UNP and formed the SJB with the promise of change.

Dayasiri to SJB

Meanwhile, Dayasiri Jayasekara, who was amidst controversy recently when he re-assumed duties as the SLFP General Secretary following a court enjoining order, seems to have turned his attention towards the SJB.

A group of representatives from the Manusheeya Janatha Sandhanaya (Humane People’s Alliance) met with a group of senior SJBers at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Colombo last Tuesday (16).

It is learnt that although Jayasekara had not attended the meeting, the representatives of the alliance had participated in the meeting with his knowledge.

It is also learnt that Jayasekara’s alliance had expressed willingness to join the SJB in the coming months.

Jayasekara launched the new alliance on 20 March together with 20 small political parties.

SLFP announcement

The SLFP faction led by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva meanwhile has said it will announce which presidential candidate it will support at its next political rally.

Speaking during a well-attended rally of the new alliance in Badulla, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, who represents the said faction, claimed that the SLFP-led political alliance would play a prominent role in appointing the next president in the upcoming Presidential Election. 

He said that the membership of the SLFP-led alliance was increasing day by day, adding that their rallies were attended by a large number of people.

The new alliance leaders, it is learnt, have already informed Wickremesinghe of the support enjoyed by them at ground level.

Notice to Nimal

Meanwhile, the Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court last Tuesday issued notice on SLFP Leader de Silva after taking into consideration a case filed by SLFP-led alliances United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and People’s Alliance (PA) General Secretary Thilanga Sumathipala.

The case had been filed against de Silva for arbitrarily locking up the Head Office building that houses the UPFA and PA offices.

De Silva was ordered to appear before court on Friday (19).

Maithri’s candidate

However, former SLFP Leader, former President Sirisena has said that the party will field a candidate at the Presidential Election.

The Sirisena faction of the SLFP therefore seems to be gearing to field a candidate at the polls. However, Sirisena has not named the individual who will be fielded as its candidate.

The de Silva faction of the SLFP, which is engaged in a series of islandwide rallies with the new alliance of SLPP dissidents Yapa and Lanza, has shown support to President Wickremesinghe. However, the alliance, including the SLFP, is yet to officially announce support of Wickremesinghe.

Preparing UPFA

The SLFP de Silva faction meanwhile convened an Executive Committee meeting of the party last Thursday (18). Despite claims by Jayasekara that the meeting was illegal, the SLFP Executive Committee maintained that the meeting was convened in a legal manner.

During the meeting, it was decided to reconstitute the UPFA under the ‘betel leaf’ symbol. Coalition partners of the UPFA had also attended the meeting.

The SLFP-led UPFA is currently facing litigation over the holder of the post of general secretary, resulting in the EC temporarily suspending the party until the litigation is completed.

Both Minister Amaraweera and former MP Sumathipala have staked a claim for the post of UPFA general secretary.

However, since the power to appoint the UPFA general secretary is vested with the SLFP, all coalition partners have agreed that the SLFP should appoint a general secretary and resolve the legal issue to move forward with reconstituting the alliance. 

AKD in Japan

Meanwhile, JVP/NPP Leader AKD left for Japan last week for his final overseas engagement prior to the Presidential Election. He is scheduled to address the Sri Lankan community in Japan today (21).

While AKD will return to the country this coming week, the JVP/NPP is in the final stages of preparations for the aggressive campaign to be launched targeting the upcoming Presidential Election.

Conflicting ideologies

However, the conflicting ideologies between the JVP and NPP are continuing to surface with the latest clash being over the trade union action launched by the JVP’s trade union wing in the past few weeks.

The conflicting statements made by JVP leaders on the trade union action has affected the NPP when being questioned about its stance on the prolonged trade union actions that affect key economic sectors while also earning the wrath of the general public.

Champika’s claim

Meanwhile, dissident SJB MP and United Republic Front (URF) Leader Patali Champika Ranawaka has said that he is ready to present the alternative candidate who could win at the Presidential Election.

Ranawaka said at the URF Colombo District Convention that the front was prepared to join an alliance or support a candidate that accepts URF policies. “Otherwise, we will not field the fourth candidate at the election, but we will field the alternative candidate who will win,” Ranawaka noted, adding: “We don’t care about waves. We will create the biggest wave soon.” 

Vasu steps aside

This past week saw a surprising move in the country’s political landscape when Democratic Left Front (DLF) Leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara decided to take a step back from the party leadership due to his ill health, making way for the appointment of a new acting leader.

Accordingly, former MP Niroshan Premaratne was appointed as the Acting Leader of the DLF.

Premaratne’s appointment is aimed at taking the DLF forward on its future political path.

In a country where politicians believe in holding on to power and party leadership even in their old age, Nanayakkara’s move to make way for the appointment of an acting leader to a party founded by him sets an example for other Sri Lankan politicians as well.