UNP responds to MR on early polls

Saturday, 3 May 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The main Opposition United National Party (UNP) has responded to a comment made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa recently and called for early elections. Speaking at the UNP May Day rally in Ampara, UNP Leadership Council Chairman Karu Jayasuriya said that the UNP wanted the President to go for early elections. However, he said President Mahinda Rajapaksa should ensure the elections are free and fair and held in a democratic manner. President Mahinda Rajapaksa had recently said the Government was ready to hold a snap presidential or general election next year if the Opposition made a formal request. Speaking to newspaper editors in Colombo at a breakfast meeting recently, the President had said that he had no plans of holding a snap presidential election next year as his term ends in 2016. However, he said if the Opposition were to make a request for an early election, then he was prepared to consider the request. “I will need to ask the Opposition Leader what election he wants first,” the President had said jokingly. Meanwhile, earlier this week the UNP had said that its focus right now is on the Uva elections and not a presidential or general election. UNP MP John Amarathunga told Colombo Gazette that the Opposition would not be fooled by claims by President Mahinda Rajapaksa that he was ready to hold a snap election. Amarathunga said that the President had always maintained he would not hold a presidential election ahead of 2016 when his term ends and so the Opposition did not expect him to change that position without being pressured to do so. The Government is expected to call for elections in the Uva Province next and Amarathunga said the focus of the UNP would be to prepare for that election first. (Colombo Gazette)

UNP plans peaceful protest in Hambantota today

A group of UNP Parliamentarians and the party’s elected representatives of the Western and Southern Provincial Councils will stage a peaceful protest in front of the Hambantota Police Station today at 10:15 a.m. The protest is against the inaction of Police in apprehending the individuals who brutally attacked the UNP MPs on 17 April who visited Hambantota Port and Mattala International Airport on a fact-finding mission.