Rosy requests: “No protests for me”

• Defeated UNP candidate urges supporters to stop calling for her appointment on National List
• Hopes to pursue legal means to call recount of preferential votes

Defeated UNP Colombo District Candidate and former State Minister for Children’s Affairs Rosy Senanayake has urged women’s rights groups to refrain from demonstrations demanding her inclusion in the UNP National List scheduled to be held today.

Issuing a statement, Senanayake said that it was a respected tradition of the UNP that defeated candidates are not granted entry into Parliament on the party’s National List.

“The UNP is a disciplined political party,” she said in the statement. “So I ask that no protests are held or these senseless appeals made,” the statement said. Senanayake said the only way forward was through legal means, by requesting a recount of the preferential votes in the Colombo District.

“There is legal way and I am pursuing that with the blessings of the Party Leader,” she said in the statement.

Senanayake said that by requesting the recount, she may enter Parliament. “But I may also not be able to enter Parliament. But I pledge to continue to represent my beloved voters and I am committed to work with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe towards the development of this country,” she said. (DB)