Only 5800 for convention

Only 5800 members would be allowed to participate in the UNP annual convention which is scheduled to be held on December 1, party General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said yesterday.

Mr. Attanayake said those who could participate had been chosen on a basis which was fair by everyone.

Those... had been chosen on a basis which was fair by everyone.

Accordingly he said 55 members would be allowed to participate in one constituency if the 65 percent of the party affiliated organisations were formed. In a constituency where 50 to 64 percent of the organisations were set up 30 members would be allowed to participate. In the case of constituencies where less than 50 percent of the organisations were set up only 25 members would be allowed.

In addition Mr. Attanayake said the party had been fair to the maximum as 20 members from the constituencies where the party was completely inactive would also be allowed to participate. He said only around 5800 had been qualified to participate in this year’s convention.

Several other changes have been made in the procedure of distributing tickets for the participation. Therefore the UNP General Secretary said the tickets would be given to the organisers on their arrival at the venue of the convention instead of sending them beforehand. Sending the tickets beforehand was the earlier practice. Referring to the reports which said some members are planning to enter by force into the party headquarters Sirikotha during the convention, Mr. Attanayake said effective precautions had been planned to stop such activities. “We have decided to hold a genuine convention this time and had not focused on drawing a big crowd. Mr. Attanayake also dismissed the reports that 23 MPs and provincial council members would be barred from attending the convention. He therefore said only three MPs namely Palitha Range Bandara, Asoka Abeysinghe and Palitha Thevarapperuma have been banned from attending the convention as their party membership had been suspended.

He said others who have been in loggerheads with the party including MPs Dayasiri Jayaskera and Karu Jayasuriya would be allowed to participate in the convention.