Newly-christened UPA becomes LG poll season’s first spectacle

• Bathiudeen and Hassan Ali usher in new political coalition
• ‘UPA biggest development in Muslim political history’ - Bathiudeen
• Ali says new alliance calls to safeguard SL’s sovereignty
• Party to first contest in the Eastern Province

ACMC Leader and Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen and former SLMC Secretary General and present Secretary of the United Peace Alliance M.T. Hassan Ali exchange the signed MoU of the United People’s Alliance yesterday in Colombo

The All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC), which was instrumental in ushering in Sri Lanka’s good governance administration, has announced the formation of a new political alliance ahead of the forthcoming Local Government (LG) polls. 

Interestingly, this announcement was also the first major political development in Sri Lanka’s LG polls season, which will end with the elections in February 2018.

“This is a turning point in Sri Lanka’s Muslim political history. The ACMC led by me and the United Peace Alliance led by Basheer Segu Dawood MP are joining to form the United People’s Alliance (UPA). The UPA we are creating today will first contest in the Eastern Province where a Muslim majority exists. The UPA will therefore enter local politics in the Ampara District in the forthcoming LG polls. The symbol of the UPA is the peacock and its Chairperson is M.T. Hassan Ali, the former Secretary General of the SLMC and the present Secretary of the United Peace Alliance. Hassan Ali, being a former Parliamentarian and a State Minister, is well-positioned to start off the UPA’s journey. As the leader of ACMC, my role in the UPA is to be decided later on,” said ACMC Leader and Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen yesterday. 

Minister Bathiudeen was speaking at a special media briefing to announce the launch of the UPA held at Renuka Hotel. Joining him were many other representatives of the ACMC as well as representatives from the United Peace Alliance.

The United Peace Alliance’s Secretary Ali was upbeat over Minister Bathiudeen’s approach towards the MoU. 

“I praise Minister Bathiudeen for his open, honest approach to form this alliance and prioritising the Muslim community’s betterment over his own. For example he could have declared himself the leader of this alliance but instead he gave me the leadership of this alliance. We praise Minister Bathiudeen for his concern towards the Muslim community,” said Ali 

“The new alliance calls to protect the sovereignty of Sri Lanka and also the collective approach by all ethnic communities towards a united Sri Lanka,” he added.

Three years ago on 22 December 2014, Minister Bathiudeen exited the then ruling UPFA coalition and joined the Common Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena. The result of Minister Bathiudeen’s departure from the UPFA led to a loss of the UPFA’s two-thirds majority in Parliament after a four-year rule and resulted in the arrival of the good governance administration of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.