• Says the negotiations for alliance now left to two leaders
• Says the candidate nominations should have come after alliance was formed 
• SLFP national conference to be held next month 
  
   

Sri Lanka Freedom Party is turning its focus inward with a national conference planned early next month, vesting the responsibility of deciding on a possible alliance with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna on President Maithripala Sirisena, General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara told Daily FT. 

“We have now left the matter with the President where he is now in talks with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. They will hold discussions and only a few of us will accompany him,” he said, noting that the possibility of an alliance was not completely ruled out. 

The two parties have had six rounds of discussions to form an alliance with no final agreement. Last week, SLFP Leader President Sirisena met Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.  

Dayasiri however, expressed disappointment in the SLPP move to announce a Presidential Election candidate on Sunday, noting that the decision should have come after an alliance was formed with the agreement of all the parties in the alliance. 

“If it was agreed upon by all, then we would have had ownership of the candidate,” he noted. Nevertheless, he accepted that the SLPP had maintained they would name their own candidate even when negotiations for the alliance was on going.

The party is also planning to hold their national conference on 3 September, where the future strategy of the SLFP is to be unveiled, Jayasekara said. However, he said it was premature to nominate a candidate yet, and would wait for the decision of the President regarding contesting the election. During a conference earlier this year, SLFP members formally requested President Sirisena to contest in the upcoming presidential elections.  The SLFP is still to decide on the membership of Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, who took over leadership of SLPP on Sunday, Jayasekara said, adding that the party has not discussed the matter yet. 

“We have to strengthen the party now, we will continue with our party restructuring programs and boosting the moral of party membership,” he said.

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