UNP Parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa yesterday said he would make it known whether to contest for the party leadership or not, only after the new party constitution was introduced based upon recommendations by the Reforms Committee.

The Committee has recommended that all five key positions in the UNP including the post of leader should be appointed through a secret ballot whenever there was no consensus on these appointments.

Asked whether he would contest the leadership, Mr. Premadasa said he could answer that question only in reference to the provisions of the present constitution.“The new constitution is yet to be introduced. Therefore, I cannot answer your question hypothetically now. Once the new constitution is in place, I can answer your question,” he said. (Read More)

UNP MP for the Moneragala district Ranjith Madduma Bandara said yesterday that he, along with his colleague MP Sajith Premadasa, would agitate for the voting right to the party’s local government members in the election of five key office bearers including the leader.

Earlier, MP Premadasa, in his meeting with the members of the Reforms Committee, made this proposal. He opined that the party’s grassroots level members should have a say in the appointment of the party leader. However, the Committee has not included this proposal in its report submitted to the Working Committee recently. As things stand today, only the members of the Working Committee and the Parliamentary Group can participate in this ballot. (Read More)

The UNP was more democratic than the SLFP, since it has given the power of electing its leaders to a wider section of the party, Parliamentarian Lakshman Kiriella said yesterday.

The UNP has entrusted the power of electing its leader and key office bearers to the party as a whole, unlike the SLFP Central Committee which was essentially centralised, Kiriella said.(Read More)

While assuring that the main opposition UNP’s discussions with the government would not push the proposed party reforms to the back seat UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekera yesterday said the ongoing talks should focus on implementing the 17th Amendment to the Constitution.

Mr. Jayasekera told a news conference that the party would go ahead with the reforms as it was the desire of the membership at grassroots level."The aspirations of the membership at grassroots level should be the prime focus as the party exists because of them," he said while stressing that the aspirations of the voters should also be taken into consideration. (Read More)

An influential section of the UNP fighting to oust Wickremesinghe believes the beleaguered Opposition Leader is seeking a lifeline from President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government amid a bid to remove him. Political sources said that this was not the first time that President Rajapaksa had stepped-in to help Wickremesinghe’s hand during an internal crisis.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday, he said that he did not have a negative attitude towards such talks between the two parties. "Normally, there is hate politics between the parties. Yet, I would like to look at this matter from a positive point of view. I believe any outcome of such talks should be in the greater interest of the people. I welcome any step that leads to consensus politics," the UNP MP said. Asked about the political risk involved in such talks with the government, he said in a lighter vein that every political move involves risks some way or other. (Read More)

The UNP will never support Constitutional amendments aimed at the perpetuation of the family rule, its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.

The government and the main opposition UNP yesterday agreed to introduce a new electoral system for local government elections before the end of this year. The system will be a mixture of the First-Past-the-Post System and the Proportional Representation System. 

Govt, UNP

Bipartisan talks on this were held yesterday at the residence of Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardane.

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa outlined the proposals of the draft Bill at the meeting. According to the proposed system, the number of members elected to the local government administration will be doubled. (Read More)

The main opposition UNP yesterday said its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe would soon begin discussions with all parties representing Parliament on changing the Constitution and replacing the Executive Presidency with a Prime Minister responsible to the legislature.UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a news conference that the objective of these talks would be to build up a common stand on Constitutional Amendments.

However Mr. Attanayake said President Mahinda Rajapaksa would also have talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) separately.

He said the current focus on the talks with the government is on the proposed amendment of the local government electoral system. UNP General Secretary said several ideas have propped up regarding this, while a mixed system was more likely. However no final decision had been made on the issue. Mr. Attanayake said the stand of the minority parties which claim their right to represent the people would diminish if the current proportional representation system is replaced with the ward system and with likely moves to introduce a mixed system. (Read More)

The government and the United National Party yesterday agreed to discuss a series of electoral and constitutional changes including the creation of an Executive Prime Ministership to replace the Executive Presidency.

Asked if he believed Rajapaksa was serious about replacing the Executive Presidency with an Executive Prime Ministership, Wickremesinghe said that they had agreed in principle to discuss electoral and constitutional changes. But how far the talks would progress was left to be seen, he said. (Read Moe)