Lanka's UNP looks at major rejig after Prez poll debacle

The United National Party (UNP), the main Opposition group in Sri Lanka, has called for an urgent meeting of its apex body to discuss its political future in the aftermath of the party's defeat in the November 16 presidential polls.

Ajith P Perera, an UNP spokesman, said 27 members of the party's working committee had written to UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to convene a working committee meeting before December 20.

This 27-member faction seeks Wickremesinghe step down from the position as party leader, which he has held since 1994.

Pressure on former prime minister Wickremesinghe has increased since the party's defeat in the recent presidential election.

The UNP's deputy leader Sajith Premadasa had lost to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the election on November 16.

With increasing pressure on him, Wickremesinghe, 70, made Premadasa the leader of the main Opposition.

"If he (Premadasa) can be named Opposition leader why can he not be appointed to lead the UNP too?" Perera asked.

Wickremesinghe loyalists say the former prime minister would not give up the party's leadership as he wants to lead a broader political front ahead of the Parliamentary elections next year.

President Rajapaksa is expected to dismiss the current parliament by late February for Parliamentary elections in late April or early May.

Wickremesinghe has stressed that despite the presidential election loss, the UNP could still gain working majority in the 225-member assembly.

However the government of Rajapaksa remains confident that they will win the parliamentary election.