SLFP says 20th Amendment will address electoral reform
Thursday, 26 March 2015 01:28
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By Jayashika Padmasiri
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) yesterday announced that the 20th Amendment presented in Parliament would institute electoral reforms and soon after it was passed, along with the 19th Amendment, they will call for a general election.
SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, addressing a media conference in Colombo, said that after constitutional and electoral reforms were implemented Parliament would be dissolved.
“The SLFP is not against allocating 250 parliamentary seats under a new electoral system. The Elections Commissioner said that within three months of the passage of the resolution we can go for an election. Therefore there is a possibility that there could be an election this year. However, if we go for an election it will be under a new electoral system. Anyway our party does not have a 100-day timeframe as we have not agreed to a 100-day period and this procedure will definitely pass 100 days,” Yapa said.
Speaking about the SLFP’s decision to join the National Government, he added that it was only with the support and unity of the United National Party (UNP) and SLFP that constitutional amendments and electoral reforms could be implemented and therefore these two parties should work under a common objective and bring about these changes in the country. However, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa noted that although they had entered into a National Government, the SLFP still had the right to criticise the UNP as the SLFP was still with the Opposition.
He also revealed that the SLFP soon planned to hold discussions about the National Government with other parties of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). Answering a question raised by the media as to whether all the SLFP Parliamentarians consented to the decision taken to support the National Government, Yapa claimed that everybody in the SLFP Central Committee agreed to join the National Government except MP Kumar Welgama.
“Even MP T.B. Ekanayake did not oppose it then, though he is criticising our decision now. We spoke about the National Government with the SLFP Parliamentarians, then at the Central Committee and at two SLFP workshops in Negombo,” Yapa said.
Speaking about former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s role in the SLFP, Yapa said that at present he was acting as an advisor to the party but that if Rajapaksa said he wanted to contest under the SLFP they would not object to his decision. At this point he was questioned about the former President publicly stating that the SLFP did not listen to his advice, to which Yapa responded that they were unaware of such a complaint and that the SLFP did listen to any advice given by Rajapaksa.
Meanwhile, MP John Seneviratne, who was also present at the news conference, said that the future of the SLFP was dependent on the unity and cooperation of former Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Chandrika Kumaratunga and current President Maithripala Sirisena.
“These three leaders must come together, that is the need of the country and the SLFP’s future is dependent on this,” Seneviratne said.
Speaking about the Ratnapura rally scheduled to be held today, the4 SLFP also said that they had announced their stance on SLFP members taking part in rallies organised by other political parties. However, when quizzed about some politicians claiming that Rajapaksa should be brought in as the SLFP Prime Ministerial candidate, SLFP Parliamentarian Thilanga Sumathipala, who was also at the media conference, explained that the problem was that they did not know whether former President Rajapaksa would like serving under current President Sirisena.
