Rajapaksa dumps Sirisena’s party tag as polls loom

Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday ended his five-decadelong association with President Maithripala Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and joined the newly-formed Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP).

The move by the strongman, who was appointed prime minister by Sirisena, signalled that he would contest the snap polls, to be held on January 5, under his own party banner and not that of SLFP.

Rajapaksa obtained the membership of the SLPP, launched by his supporters, on Sunday.

The SLPP was formed last year by Rajapaksa’s supporters to create a platform for the former president’ s re-entry into politics.

In February’s local council elections, the party won twothird of the total 340 seats.

The 72-year-old strongman, who ruled Sri Lanka for a decade from 2005, was unexpectedly defeated by his deputy, Sirisena, in the presidential election held in January 2015 with the support from Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP).

However, the power-sharing arrangement between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe became increasingly tenuous on several policy matters.

On October 26, Sirisena ousted Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Rajapaksa, after three and a half years of an estranged relationship with him.

The island nation plunged into a constitutional crisis following the move. Sirisena had suspended parliamentary proceedings until November 16. Later, owing to domestic and international pressure, he issued a notice to reconvene parliament on November 14. However, on Friday, Sirisena dissolved parliament and announced snap polls on January 5 after it became evident that he did not have enough support in the House to prove the premiership of Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa needed the support of minimum 113 parliamentarians in the 225-member House to prove his majority.

COLOMBO: