• Tells party members he will be stepping down after new leader is appointed
• Announcement comes after UNP’s humiliating defeat in last week’s General Election
• Akila Viraj, Ravi K, Vajira A and Daya Gamage vying for top post
• UNP WC to meet Friday to discuss proposals for new leader
• Final decision not likely till next week

United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday indicated that he would be stepping down from the position in the wake of the humiliating defeat suffered by the party at Wednesday’s General Election.

Wickremesinghe told a group of former UNP MPs and party officials that he would be stepping down from the post he had held since 1994 and requested them to set in motion the process that would enable a new leader to be appointed.

The UNP, which led the country to indep

endence and has held power alternatively with the SLFP for more than three decades, was reduced to one National List seat in Parliament at Wednesday’s Parliamentary Election.

Wickremesinghe lost his seat in the Colombo District for the first time since he was first elected to Parliament in 1977. The once-mighty Party managed to obtain only 249,435 votes or just 2.15% of all votes polled.

Four former MPs are vying to succeed Wickremesinghe. They are UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Deputy Leader Ravi Karunanayake and former MPs Daya Gamage and Vajira Abeywardena.

Naveen Dissanayake, who was earlier tipped as one of the frontrunners to be UNP leader, has said he would support whoever becomes leader but would not be vying for the position.

Kariyawasam said that the proposed names would be presented to the Party’s Working Committee on Friday, but a final decision would not be taken that day.

Wickremesinghe has indicated that whoever becomes the new leader must have the unanimous support of the party.

Kariyawasam said the UNP leader had said he would be stepping down once the new leader was appointed.

Wickremesinghe has resisted calls for him to step down from the post repeatedly over the past 15 years but the demand intensified ahead of last November’s Presidential Election when a large section of party members backed its then Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa to take over the position.

After Premadasa’s defeat in the Presidential Election, there were calls for Wickremesinghe to step down and allow the former to lead the General Election campaign, but unable to find common ground, a powerful section of the UNP broke away and contested as the Samagi Janabala Wegaya (SBJ) and secured 54 seats as the second largest party in Parliament behind the SLPP.

Meanwhile, at yesterday’s meeting, UNP members had discussed the poor showing by the party at the polls and ways to restructure the party.

“We can see from the election result that over 2.7 million voters who are mainly UNP supporters have not voted while there were also around 700,000 rejected votes.  There is disillusionment among these voters and this could be due to the split in the UNP,” he said.

Kariyawasam said that it was too early to say if the two UNP factions would unite and said the focus was now on appointing a new leader.

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