SLFP MoU signing with GR today

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa to pledge support for his election campaign.

This MoU will assure that Rajapaksa will agree to SLFP’s terms on forming a government if he is elected president, the SLFP has said. The SLFP General Secretary MP Dayasiri Jayasekara earlier this week said the MoU would strengthen confidence among SLFP supporters that the party’s identity will remain unchanged. 

The SLFP and the SLPP on 10 October signed a separate MoU to pledge support to Rajapaksa’s election campaign. The General Secretaries of the respective parties signed the MoU at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) in front of a packed crowd. 

Following the SLFP’s decision to back Rajapaksa, President Maithripala Sirisena decided to stay neutral and Prof. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa was appointed as SLPP acting Chairman. In response to the SLFP’s decision to back Rajapaksa, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga issued a statement criticising the SLFP’s decision and faulting the party for not fielding their own candidate, which Kumaratunga said was the wish of the majority of its members. Meanwhile, several SLFP grassroots level organisers opposed the SLFP’s decision and said the move to back Rajapaksa had violated the party’s core values.

In response, Jayasekara assured that the party’s core values are aligned with SLPP’s policies and insisted that the party’s identity will not be damaged.

The United National Party (UNP) MPs Athuraliye Rathana and Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha have also pledged support to Rajapaksa. They pointed out that only Rajapaksa could address the country’s economic and social issues.

Former North Eastern Province Chief Minister Varadaraja Perumal also called on the people in the north to support SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa. According to Perumal, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was unable to address long-lasting issues in the north, which in his view could be resolved by Rajapaksa.