Former President Maithripala Sirisena said that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is ready to contest the forthcoming Provincial Council election alone if the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) doesn’t treat them ‘fairly’ when selecting candidates.
In an interview with The Hindu, the former President said that his party looks forward to contesting the coming provincial council election with the SLPP, but said ready go alone “if there is no fair treatment. Our party will decide on a solo journey. We are ready for both options.”
He also revealed that the SLFP was SLFP was treated unfairly when candidates were selected for the August 2020 parliamentary election.
“We were treated unfairly when the candidates were picked for the general elections in August 2020. Our party didn’t get a slot in either Kalutara or Nuwara Eliya districts. In Gampaha, we were given only one. In Kurunegala, we were given only two slots. In the districts we are strong, we weren’t given a fair number of slots. We asked for 30 candidates. Had we been given 30 slots at the last general election, we would have got at least 25 in Parliament.”
Commenting on the abolition of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution he said;
“… I gave away my superior powers as Executive President. The powers until then were almost monarch like. The powers I parted with went to the Prime Minister, the parliament and the independent commissions. So how did some wrong people get into those institutions? It is because the powers given to the Prime Minister were abused. So, there was a lot of criticism of the commissions that were supposed to be independent. One example is the Election Commission, that lot of people found fault with. That is why I said the 19th Amendment could have been amended in a way that strengthens democracy. I didn’t vote for the 20th Amendment.”
(Daily Mirror)