The United National Party (UNP) working committee which met today decided to appoint Manjusiri Arangala as the Opposition Leader of Western Provincial Council and Thennekoon Nilame as the Opposition Leader of Southern Provincial Council.

Mr. Arangala obtained 45,664 preferential votes at the recent Provincial Council elections contesting from the Colombo District whereas Thennekoon Nilame who contested from the Hambantota District obtained 28,829 votes.

Harshana Rajakaruna who obtained 51,000 votes contesting from the Gampaha District will act as the Chief Opposition Whip of the Western Provincial Council while Bandulal Bandarigoda of Galle District who obtained 32,030 votes will act as the Chief Opposition Whip in the Southern Provincial Council.

These decisions were made by the working committee meeting which met with Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the chair.

According to party sources the percentage of votes received by these candidates out of the total number of votes obtained by the party and the seniority had been taken into consideration when deciding on the posts. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardene)