Opposition still undecided:

Political parties finalise nominations

With the dissolution of Parliament on February 9, all political parties are now finalising their nominations for the parliamentary elections slated for April 8.

The nominations will be accepted from February 19-26.

The United People’s Freedom Alliance which consists of over 30 minor and major political parties is now finalising their nominations to be handed over to the District Returning Officers from February 19, whilst the main Opposition is still struggling with their nominations due to the uncertainty over the formation of a grand alliance to contest the general election as a common Opposition.

The General Secretary of the UPFA, Minister Susil Premjayantha told the Sunday Observer that they are hopeful of finalising their nomination lists by tomorrow, the latest. “We are giving nominations for all constituent parties of the UPFA as they have consented to contest the elections under the betel leaf symbol”, the Minister said.

Asked about the new faces included in the nominations, the Minister said it was too early to comment. According to political sources, a number of new faces are scheduled to be included in the nomination lists.

The entry of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s eldest son Namal Rajapaksa to contest the general election from their home constituent, Hambantota would be a prominent feature of the UPFA nomination list. The entry of several actors and actresses who campaigned for President Rajapaksa’s candidacy at the presidential poll would also be one of the significant features of the UPFA nominations, political sources said.

One of the main allies of the UPFA, the Ceylon Workers’ Congress led by Minister Arumugan Thondaman is due to field 10 candidates under the UPFA banner.

The CWC will field their candidates from Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Kandy, Ratnapura and Colombo districts, CWC Chairman Muthu Sivalingam told the Sunday Observer. National Freedom Front Leader Wimal Weerawansa said that his party will also contest the parliamentary elections under the UPFA banner and will field candidates for 19 districts.

Weerawansa is set to contest the general election from the Colombo district.

The leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told the Sunday Observer that his party is set to field candidates for 10 districts on the UPFA ticket. “We expect to field candidates from Colombo, Hambantota, Ampara, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Kandy, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya and the Gampaha districts”.

He said that they are hopeful of getting two slots from the Colombo district and two slots from the National List.

A spokesman for the Jathika Hela Urumaya told the Sunday Observer that they will field five candidates for five districts under the UPFA banner.

The JHU would contest Colombo, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Kalutara and Kandy districts. Minister Champika Ranawaka and Ven Athuraliye Ratana Thera would contest the elections from the Colombo and Gampaha districts.

Meanwhile, the main Opposition led by the United National Party is still in an indecisive position whether to contest the general election as one grand alliance or separately at the parliamentary elections, despite a decision taken by the United National Party to contest elections under the Elephant symbol.

However, the UNP in their latest stance said on Friday, that the decision to contest under the Elephant symbol was not final as the working committee of the party has given authority for its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to take a final decision.

According to party sources many senior party leaders are strongly supporting the decision to contest the elections rather than fielding candidates under a different symbol. The UNP, however, has appointed a Nomination Board to finalise the nominations of the party.

According to political sources political parties that supported the Opposition Common candidate Sarath Fonseka at the presidential poll are having discussions to form a broader alliance to contest the elections.

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem, JVP leaders Somawansa Amarasinghe and General Secretary Tylvin Silva, TNA leader R. Sampanthan and Western People’s Front Mano Ganeshan are having discussions about the formation of an alliance to contest the election as a common Opposition.

Latest reports indicate that the name of the New Democratic Front under which the Opposition common candidate General Sarath Fonseka contested the Presidential election would be changed to the United National Front to contest the elections under the Swan symbol.

The JVP, SLMC and the Western People’s Front are apparently exerting pressure on the UNF leadership to come to an agreement to contest the elections under the Swan symbol.

According to reliable sources these political parties are having sharp differences over the issue of allocating nominations slots for each political party and it has prevented them from coming to an agreement to contest under one banner.

However, political sources said that a final decision will only be taken within the next few days considering the outcome of the decision of each political party after discussions at their politburo meetings.

SLMC General Secretary Hassen Ali told the Sunday Observer that the SLMC politburo will meet today to take a final decision on the issue.

He, however, confirmed that discussions are still on to form an alliance with the UNP, JVP, Western People’s Front and the TNA.

Meanwhile, separate discussions are being held among the Tamil political parties about contesting the parliamentary elections.

The TNA or the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi is having discussions with TULF leader V. Anandasangaree to contest the elections under the TULF banner.

Sources also confirmed that the TNA has decided to distance itself from members such as K. Sivajilingam and Srikanthan from their nomination lists.

According to the latest reports the Eelam People’s Democratic Party led by Minister Douglas Devananda, the PLOTE and the EPRLF (Naba Wing) are also having discussions to form a different alliance to contest the elections.

However, they have not come to a final decision whether to contest separately or with the UPFA, according to Minister Devananda.

In another development, the leader of the Left Front Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne said his party too will contest the general election in all districts and is having discussions with Tamil and Muslim parties to form an alliance to contest the elections.

He said he has decided to change his party name from ‘Left Front’ to ‘Left Liberation Front’. He is having discussions with K. Sivajilingam of the TNA to form a different alliance to contest the elections.

However, he said his party will contest the elections in all districts along with the Muslim parties supporting him and added that he might include his name under the National List.