AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 129.06 Decreased By ▼ -0.47 (-0.36%)
BOP 6.75 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.05%)
CNERGY 4.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-3.02%)
DCL 8.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-4.36%)
DFML 40.82 Decreased By ▼ -0.87 (-2.09%)
DGKC 80.96 Decreased By ▼ -2.81 (-3.35%)
FCCL 32.77 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFBL 74.43 Decreased By ▼ -1.04 (-1.38%)
FFL 11.74 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (2.35%)
HUBC 109.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.97 (-0.88%)
HUMNL 13.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.81 (-5.56%)
KEL 5.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.48%)
KOSM 7.72 Decreased By ▼ -0.68 (-8.1%)
MLCF 38.60 Decreased By ▼ -1.19 (-2.99%)
NBP 63.51 Increased By ▲ 3.22 (5.34%)
OGDC 194.69 Decreased By ▼ -4.97 (-2.49%)
PAEL 25.71 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-3.53%)
PIBTL 7.39 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-3.52%)
PPL 155.45 Decreased By ▼ -2.47 (-1.56%)
PRL 25.79 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-3.52%)
PTC 17.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.96 (-5.2%)
SEARL 78.65 Decreased By ▼ -3.79 (-4.6%)
TELE 7.86 Decreased By ▼ -0.45 (-5.42%)
TOMCL 33.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.78 (-2.26%)
TPLP 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.66 (-7.28%)
TREET 16.27 Decreased By ▼ -1.20 (-6.87%)
TRG 58.22 Decreased By ▼ -3.10 (-5.06%)
UNITY 27.49 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.22%)
WTL 1.39 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.72%)
BR100 10,445 Increased By 38.5 (0.37%)
BR30 31,189 Decreased By -523.9 (-1.65%)
KSE100 97,798 Increased By 469.8 (0.48%)
KSE30 30,481 Increased By 288.3 (0.95%)

Sri Lanka's former leader Mahinda Rajapakse Thursday applied to be a candidate in upcoming parliamentary elections seven months after his defeat in a presidential poll. Rajapakse, 69, signed nomination papers to stand in the August 17 election as a member of the main opposition United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), setting the stage for a comeback.
Rajapakse, who was toppled by his former ally and health minister Maithripala Sirisena, is one of 18 applicants from the third largest district - Kurunegala - ditching his smaller home constituency of Hambantota, party officials said. The former leader signed his nomination papers on Thursday night at his home in a suburb of Colombo in the presence of UPFA General-Secretary Susil Premajayantha. Nominations must be filed with the elections department by Monday.
President Sirisena took over leadership from Rajapakse soon after the January elections and the two men appeared bitter foes, but party seniors had been working on reconciliation between the two sides. However, Sirisena's office announced last week that he will not allow Rajapakse to be the UPFA's prime ministerial candidate nor would he permit him to stand as a district leader. Rajapakse loyalist Udaya Gammanpila said differences between the two sides had been ironed out clearing the way for Rajapakse to contest the forthcoming election without splitting the UPFA.
"Of course there were some differences, but all those have been sorted out now," Gammanpila told AFP. "We are confident we can emerge the largest single group and win the election." The governing United National Party (UNP), which backed Sirisena's victory, is equally confident that they can retain power. Rajapakse lost the January elections partly due to allegations that he and his immediate family siphoned off millions of dollars during his nine-year rule during which he crushed a Tamil rebellion for a separate state, a charge he has denied. Rajapakse, an ethnic Sinhalese, remains popular among big sections of the island's largest community for overseeing the defeat of the Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2015

Comments

Comments are closed.