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Last Updated : 2024-03-29 19:40:00
Ranil Wickremesinghe will continue as the leader of the United National Party at least till early January despite his earlier announcement that he is ready to resign and appoint a new leader, senior party sources told Daily Mirror yesterday just after a secret ballot elected former Gampaha District MP Ruwan Wijewardene as the UNP's new Deputy Leader.
Ruwan Wijewardene contested for the post with Ravi Karunanayake, and he won through the secret ballet with 28-10 votes. Sources said the deputy leader will now be prepared by Wickremesinghe and other senior members to eventually take over the party after Wickremesinghe steps down from the post.
"As of now there is no certain date that Ranil will step down but it is expected he will hand over the leadership by early January and Ruwan will eventually take over. The party wanted a young leader and Ruwan was elected by receiving majority votes," a source said. Ruwan was appointed to the post after the UNP claimed that it fell vacant following the suspension of Sajith Premadasa after he was appointed the leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
Ruwan will continue to maintain the same powers as what Sajith held in the party. Initially the Working Committee of the UNP decided to elect a new leader by Sept.6, when the party celebrated its 74th anniversary, but continuous talks between the seniors and contenders failed. Last week, the party held discussions continuously with a final breakthrough made over the weekend by shortlisting the candidates between Ruwan Wijewardene, Ravi Karunanayake and Arjuna Ranatunga. (JAMILA HUSAIN)
BigEars Tuesday, 15 September 2020 07:34 AM
He will never go. The end of the UNP. It was a good decision for Premadasa and camp to quit UNP.
S.H.Moulana Tuesday, 15 September 2020 07:45 AM
Ranil leaving the UNP leadership and Trump leaving the White House are two most unpredictable things among the two most top issues currently discussed!
Sambo Tuesday, 15 September 2020 08:01 AM
Ranil will continue till which year January? Not seen a selfish person like him in our life time. He bought the party to zero seats and still want to cling to it.
Leslie Gunatilleka Tuesday, 15 September 2020 08:02 AM
GROBR, in sight, after complete destruction of the respected Political party
Upali Jayasinghe Tuesday, 15 September 2020 08:19 AM
No more future for the UNP. Same family connection regardless of capability.
ara Tuesday, 15 September 2020 04:18 PM
who cares, can youll stop reporting this nonsense
Roy Tuesday, 15 September 2020 04:46 PM
Latest news possible: Ranil Wickremesinghe has tendered resignation
ram Tuesday, 15 September 2020 05:21 PM
so we can predict that Ranil will continue to be the leader forever. He is not going anywhere soon. We will wait and see
Mahesh Tuesday, 15 September 2020 07:14 PM
He will resign after he expires. One of the useless politicians ever born in Sri Lanka.
Jude Fernando Tuesday, 15 September 2020 08:38 PM
Always when failure strikes, the leader leaves promptly and allows the replacement to do the job of reorganizing, so that there will be a complete rehaul. Here the failure insists on staying back to do the reorganizing. In which case hardly anything new or better will come about. Moreover the new leader will be saddled with all the useless baggage of the failure! When will he learn?
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