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Call for special convention to elect new leader for UNP

25 Oct 2011 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The leadership crisis in the UNP which laid dormant during the local government elections came to the fore again today with Former Assistant Leader and a Former Chairman of the UNP Rukman Senanayake urging the Deputy Leaders of the party Karu Jayasuriya and Sajith Premadasa to call a special convention in order to allow the party members to elect a new leader.

He is being backed by several former stalwarts of the party including former Vice President Imittiyaz Bakeer Marker and the UNP Former MPs Association.

Mr. Senanayake told a news conference today that the Deputy Leaders should call a special convention of the party as they have the power to do so in a crisis situation. He said there is no option but to hold a special convention to elect a new leader as the present leadership had ignored several requests by many party members to step down.

The former UNP Assistant leader said the party is in a crisis as it had suffered yet another set back at the recently held local government election. He said the UNP was defeated at the last local government election as the party members refrained from voting because they were frustrated on the leadership.

Former Vice President Imitiaz Bakeer Marker voicing his opinion said the party had lost almost 60 of its strongmen over the past years. Listing out some names he said Tyronne Fernando, Wijepala Mendis, Dharamadasa Banda, Dr. Saratha Amunugama and Lakshman Yapa Abeywardne had left the UNP because they were frustrated in the way the party was handled.

Besides he said the party’s Buddhist vote base had declined to less than 20 percent while it had lost the catholic vote base it had from Ja-Ela to Wennapuwa some years ago.

Referring to the UNP’s success in Colombo at the last local government election, Mr. Bakeer Markar said there are both negative and positive aspects to it. The positive aspect he said is the collective effort of everyone including the party leader Ranil Wickremesighe, Deputy Leaders Mr. Jayasuriya, Mr. Premadasa and others. The negative aspect is that the party had not been able to obtain an absolute majority. (Yohan Perera) (Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana)

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Call for special convention to elect new leader for UNP

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