Sri Lanka: UNP meeting to select presidential candidate ends in deadlock

A senior-level meeting of Sri Lanka's ruling United National Party to select its candidate for the presidential elections scheduled later this year ended in deadlock on Friday, party sources said. After the meeting, UNP leaders left without speaking to the media.

"The meeting ended with no conclusions but there was agreement to stop being critical of the party in public," a senior UNP leader, who did not wish to be named, said. The meeting, which was convened by Prime Minister and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, gains significance in the view of Cabinet minister and party leader Sajith Premadasa launching his own campaign.

On Thursday, Premadasa held his third public rally. The meet was more of a personal event than a party-backed show, attendees said. Premadasa's growing popularity seems to have split the his party's support base.

Premadasa loyalists say he is the only winnable candidate against the Opposition's candidate, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. The UNP leadership has not taken notice of Premadasa's campaign, saying the party has a laid down procedure to elect a candidate and the decision must be made when the election is officially declared.

The UNP's allies have urged it to sort out internal matters and name the candidate before formally announcing the tie-up for the polls. Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has told the election commission that the party would field its own candidate, said SLFP spokesman Weerakumara Dissanayake.

However, there are also ongoing talks between Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and the SLFP to support Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's candidature. The presidential election must be held before December 8.

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