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UPFA proposes 60-day programme to contest elections under its banner
The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) will put forward a 60-day programme aimed at contesting the next Parliamentary elections, party General Secretary Susil Premajayantha said.
Mr. Premajayantha told the Sunday Times that the organisers at village level have been told to be prepared for the elections as the intention is to field a strong list of candidates with the objective of forming an SLFP-led government.
“Discussions are underway with President Maithripala Sirisena to get the support of other parties in the UPFA to prepare for the elections,” he said.
“Already the left political parties, the minority parties and even the National Freedom Front (NFF) led by former minister Wimal Weerawansa have informed that they will contest under the UPFA banner at the Parliamentary elections,” he said.
He said that senior members of the party want former Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga along with President Maithripala Sirisena to campaign on the same stage to ensure that they could retain the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) vote bank.
He said that a section of senior members and some of the organisers have said Mr. Rajapaksa should be a part of the campaign enabling the party to benefit from the 5.8 million votes he gained at the last Presidential election.
Mr. Premajayantha said that only persons who have faced disciplinary action within the party will be left out of the nomination lists. “We cannot act if there are only allegations against them. We need to have evidence against them to take action,” he said.
Mr. Premjayantha said that the intention of the party was to contest under the UPFA banner enabling it to form a government and therefore no consideration was given to the proposal of forming a national government.