Sri Lanka opposition form alliance for elections
Colombo: With Presidential and Parliamentary
elections expected to be held within the next few months in
Sri Lanka, the opposition parties today announced the
formation of an alliance to be called United National Front.
The front would bring together the main opposition, the
United National Party with an alliance with minority Tamil and
Muslim parties to confront President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is
hoping to ride back to power on a popular wave after defeating
the Tamil Tigers, earlier this year.
The UNP and smaller minority party signed a pact to
form a united front at the Parliament Complex here with the
opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe saying they would fight
on the plank of scrapping of the executive Presidential
system.
The opposition front wants Sri Lanka to revert back to
the parliamentary democracy with the Prime Minister being the
defacto head of the government.
Ranil Wickremasinghe, Opposition leader and leader of
the United National Party, Mangala Samaraweera, leader of the
Sri Lanka Freedom Party Mahajana Wing; Rauff Hakeem, leader of
the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress; Mano Ganeshan, leader of the
Democratic People's Front were amongst those who signed the
agreement.
Eight other parties and representatives of the
national intellectuals forum would also be in the new front.
Bureau Report