No outsiders from UNP ticket

11 January 2011 08:00 am

The UNP has decided not to accommodate members of other parties such as the SLMC under its elephant symbol at the upcoming local government election unless they obtain the party membership first, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said

Mr. Attanayake told a news conference that the UNP would contest the polls for all 303 local bodies, and the second round of interviews   for the selection of candidates would be conducted from January 16 to 17 at district levels. 

The General Secretary said that the party decided to give prominence to its members with no disciplinary charges or inquiries during their term in the outgoing councils.

“We will give nominations to a number of youth and women candidates. Also, we seek to encourage professionals to contest on the UNP ticket. However, we will not entertain members from other parties. If they wish to contest with us, they should obtain the UNP membership first,” he said.

Asked whether this decision was taken due to the crossover of some SLMC and Tamil MPs elected on the UNP ticket last time, he replied, “Definitely, yes. We had numerous problems as a result. We are unable to take disciplinary action against them because they belong to a different party. We will not make that mistake again.

Responding to a query whether this stand would be applicable to major elections in future, he said that this decision was taken in respect of this election only.

“However, my personal view is that the party should remain rigid in this regard in the future too,” he said.

Eight SLMC MPs and three Tamil party MPs elected on the UNP ticket have now switched allegiance to the government. (Kelum Bandara)