• Ranil rides ‘elephant’ after agreeing to ‘swan’
• Ranil’s UNP and Sajith’s SJB prepare for polls
• UNPers in Kandy fire first salvo against RW
• UNP takes 'elephant'; Sajith takes 'telephone'

Black Box by Capt. Vasabha The crisis ridden main Opposition United National Party (UNP) has failed to resolve its internal crises even after the dissolution of Parliament while the battlelines drawn between UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s faction and Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa’s faction are intensifying each passing day. Yesterday (7) however saw the Wickremesinghe-led UNP drawing a defining line separating the party from the Premadasa-led alliance with UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam informing the Election Commission (EC) that the party would be contesting the upcoming general election under the “elephant” symbol from 22 districts. It is now official – both the Wickremesinghe and Premadasa factions will be contesting at the upcoming general election. Indications are that the Wickremesinghe group would contest under the “elephant” symbol while the Premadasa group would contest under the “telephone” symbol. The “swan” symbol seems to be left in the lurch. The letter dated 7 March 2020 addressed to EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya stated: “I, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, as the General Secretary of the United National Party takes this opportunity to inform that under Clause 11 of the Parliamentary Election Act of 1981, the United National Party as a registered political party would be contesting 22 electoral divisions at the parliamentary election scheduled to be held on 25 April 2020 in accordance with the Gazette Extraordinaire 2165/08 of the Sri Lanka Democratic Socialist Republic issued on 2 March 2020.” According to the existing laws, registered political parties planning to contest a general election have to inform the EC of its intention to contest within seven days from the date Parliament is dissolved. The irony is that the Wickremesinghe faction last morning had discussed with members of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) the possibility of both factions contesting on a joint platform under the New Democratic Front (NDF)’s “swan” symbol. A senior member of the Premadasa group said that the NDF, which is affiliated to MP Ravi Karunanayake, had agreed to “lend” its symbol to the SJB for the general election without any conditions. The message was conveyed to the Premadasa group by Dr. Rajitha Senaratne. Although Karunanayake had earlier come forward to allow the SJB to contest under the “swan” symbol, the NDF Executive Committee decided to place conditions before the SJB before surrendering its symbol to the Premadasa-led alliance. Both, the General Secretary of NDF Sharmila Perera and General Secretary of the SJB Ranjith Madduma Bandara were engaged in unofficial discussions on the modalities involved in the NDF’s transfer of its symbol to the SJB. “We (SJB) have checked with the Election Commission and the NDF can transfer its symbol to the SJB. However, it has to be done legally and as per the Constitution of the NDF in order to ensure there are no legal loopholes,” a senior member of the Premadasa group said. Be that as it may, it is after intimating to the SJB its agreement to contest together under the “swan” symbol that the UNP yesterday sent an official letter stating its intentions to contest at the upcoming general election. The move, despite coming as a shock, was anticipated by the SJB. What could be termed as the SJB’s “disaster preparedness” was witnessed last week when it went ahead with its launch as planned following the failure to reach a consensus on the alliance symbol at the Working Committee (WC) meeting held last Sunday (1). The WC meeting that had commenced at around 7.25 p.m. had lasted for over three hours. The discussion was mostly focused on the SJB’s constitution issues as noted by the UNP and the symbol of the alliance. Addressing a media briefing on Sunday night, Wickremesinghe said that there were several legal matters related to the Constitution of the new alliance. He said that the WC had discussed issues regarding the symbol as EC officials had noted the possibility of some other party taking over the symbol if the UNP relinquished the symbol of the elephant. However, Wickremesinghe refrained from speaking about the backup plan in the event the alliance was not prepared by the time of nominations. Speaking to a group of his loyalists, Wickremesinghe had also explained the issue with the symbol of the SJB. The explanation was that if the symbol was released – NDF’s “swan” symbol or the UNP’s “elephant” symbol – the party that gives its symbol to the alliance will not be able to use the respective symbol for five years. In fact, the relevant symbol could only be taken back by the party at the next general election. As for the UNP, handing over the “elephant” symbol would also mean that the party would have failed to contest the last two presidential elections and the 2020 general election as well as the next provincial council and local government elections that are due before the 2025 general election. If a party fails to contest three consecutive national elections, the respective party also runs the risk of being declared defunct by the EC. Meanwhile, several Wickremesinghe supporters who raised the issue at the WC meeting last Sunday, noted that the Constitution the SJB was currently using is that of the Ape Jathika Peramuna (Our National Front) that the SJB had taken to form the Premadasa-led alliance. “The UNP wants to see an alliance constitution not a party constitution,” a Wickremesinghe loyalist said, adding that this Constitution didn’t allow for members of another party to contest under its banner. Since the SJB had not changed this particular clause in its Constitution, the SJB has to now call an emergency general meeting (EGM) to make the amendment to the Constitution. “In the current state, all UNP members would need to forgo their party memberships and join the SJB if they want to contest under it at the upcoming general election,” the Wickremesinghe loyalist added. The Wickremesinghe faction also maintained that despite SJB General Secretary Madduma Bandara saying a new constitution had been created, the EC had not received it. Meanwhile, SJB General Secretary Madduma Bandara had told the media that the UNP had accepted and approved the SJB Constitution and indicated that changes were not necessary. “I have the minutes to prove that the UNP had approved the Constitution,” he had said, adding that there was no need for any changes as a result. Despite the nonresolution of the crises within the UNP, Premadasa and his supporters went ahead with the launch of the SJB alliance under Premadasa’s leadership. However, even after the launch of the SJB last Monday (2) at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre, discussions between the two factions to reach a consensus continued. Fifty-eight UNP MPs attended the launch with Premadasa saying the new alliance would be people-oriented. Five political parties and more than 10 organisations signed the SJB’s national accord. Some UNPers who attended the launch of the SJB on Monday morning met with the party leadership that evening. Among the members who met Wickremesinghe were J.C. Alawathuwala, Gayantha Karunathileka, Mujibur Rahuman, and several others. Some others had also spoken to the UNP Leader over the telephone. Wickremesinghe had responded saying that discussions on reaching a consensus were still an ongoing process. Meanwhile, on Tuesday (3), Wickremesinghe told UNP organisers at a meeting at the UNP headquarters Sirikotha that he would continue to hold discussions with Premadasa in an attempt to ensure the UNP contests the upcoming election on a united platform. According to Wickremesinghe loyalists, it was a unanimous decision by the organisers that the UNP’s “elephant” be the symbol for the election. However, the organisers had also stressed that the party could not split under any circumstances. Separate paths explored Nevertheless, the WC meeting last Sunday indicated signs of a widening rift between the Wickremesinghe and Premadasa factions that would ultimately result in the two groups contesting separately at the polls. Following its launch last Monday, the Premadasa-led SJB had used the “telephone” symbol in its official letterheads. After the 1 March WC meeting, both the UNP and SJB commenced initial preparatory work on nominations lists. The irony is that while the SJB is engaged in preparing its nomination lists for the upcoming general election, the UNP is also engaged in the same process and some senior members contesting under the SJB are also members of the UNP nominations board. That chaos reigns supreme in the UNP has now become an understatement. However, senior party members have advised both Wickremesinghe and Premadasa to settle whatever issues and contest as a united front since a split would affect their performance at the polls while breaking up the party as well. Premadasa meanwhile maintains that the SJB led by him has been endorsed by the UNP WC and that he was carrying out the duty assigned to him by the party. Last Monday (2), Premadasa said that the UNP General Secretary, issuing a statement on 30 January 2020, had said that the party’s prime ministerial candidacy, leadership of the broad alliance, and the leadership of the alliance nominations board would be given to Sajith Premadasa as per the agreement reached at the UNP WC meeting. Also, the powers to appoint the general secretary of the alliance were also vested with Premadasa by the UNP WC. Meanwhile, the UNP has decided to go to the nominations board to finalise their list of contestants and their electorates so as to submit their papers between 12 and 19 March. Agreeing to an MoU On Wednesday (4), the UNP WC had yet another one of its meetings to resolve the ongoing crises. Prior to the meeting, UNP General Secretary Kariyawasam offered to resign from his post, stating that he was prepared to step down in order to ensure that the party stood united and the existing issues were resolved. However, several UNP members including Premadasa boycotted the WC meeting. MP Malik Samarawickrama had attended the meeting to convey the stance of the SJB. Although the discussion was to focus on approving the constitution of the alliance, appointing a new general secretary for the UNP, and the symbol to contest the upcoming general election, a final decision could not be reached since the key members of the Premadasa group were not present at the meeting. The UNP had earlier requested for several documents from the SJB and they were due to be taken up for discussion last Wednesday. The documents sought by the UNP were,

1. a) Appointment letters of Premadasa as Chairman and Madduma Bandara as General Secretary of the SJB;
2. b) Notice of the Central Committee meeting; to amend/replace Constitution;
3. c) Minutes of such committee meeting/s;
4. d) Notice of National Convention as in terms of Section 10 of the SJB Constitution policies can only be changed by such national convention;
5. e) Minutes of such National Convention;
6. f) Attendance registers at all such meetings/convention;
7. g) Amendments of SJB Constitution, especially Section 22 where membership in two parties is specifically prohibited. Premadasa and Madduma Bandara should have been appointed after amendment of Section 22;
8. h) New Constitution of the SJB.

However, the party appointed a nominations board comprising of Wickremesinghe, Premadasa, Karunanayake, Kariyawasam, Navin Dissanayake, Kabir Hashim, and Madduma Bandara. The EC meanwhile had sent a letter to the SJB General Secretary on 6 February 2020 in reference to a letter sent by the SJB on 2 February 2020 on the changing of office bearers of the Ape Jathika Peramuna. “After taking into consideration the above mentioned letter (2 February 2020) sent by you and the statement that the Central Committee of your party has decided to function by discarding Clause 22 (II) of the party constitution, the Election Commission would like to inform that it has accepted the appointment of Sajith Premadasa as the Leader of the Ape Jathika Peramuna and R.M. Ranjith Madduma Bandara as its General Secretary as well as change the name of Ape Jathika Peramuna to Samagi Jana Balawegaya,” the letter, signed by Commissioner General of the EC Saman Sri Rathnayake had stated. Taking this letter into consideration, the UNP’s senior lawyers, Daya Pelpola PC and Ronald Perera PC, had pointed out that these issues needed to be resolved as the nonresolution of the issues when handing in nominations could result in the nomination lists being cancelled. After discussing the issue further, the WC decided to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the UNP and the SJB. An agreement was also reached on six areas. The most important decision was the fact that both parties would contest the upcoming general election based on a consensual agreement. Conditions for the UNP to contest together with the SJB were also discussed at the meeting. The UNP has however expressed that it was not averse to contesting under a common symbol like the NDF’s “swan” if both the UNP and SJB were to contest together. The UNP had remained non-committal on whether it would agree to contest under the “telephone” symbol of the Ape Jathika Peramuna, which is the symbol of the SJB at present. Kariyawasam addressing a media briefing afterward noted that a decision was reached at the meeting to contest under the symbol of the elephant in order to protect the UNP voter base and added that a decision was also reached to sign an MoU with the SJB following discussions. He also said that even though the new alliance had been registered as a party, the UNP had not consented to contest under the symbol of the telephone. Meanwhile, President’s Counsel Upul Jayasuriya addressing a separate media briefing told the media that the SJB had been registered as a new party with a symbol, a leader, a general secretary, and a new constitution. He noted that changes could be made to the constitution if necessary in a legal manner and that the Chairman of the EC had confirmed that the registration of the SJB had happened within a legal framework. It is in this backdrop that Madduma Bandara had informed the EC that the SJB was hoping to contest the general election. Interestingly, the “telephone” had been used as the symbol of the SJB’s letterhead. Meanwhile, Wickremesinghe left the country for Dubai last Wednesday night on a two-day official visit. Upon Wickremesinghe’s return, backroom negotiations to resolve the UNP crisis continued. Kiriella’s salvo Amidst all the chaos, the UNP organisers are now engaged in choosing sides. The first to fire a salvo against the Wickremesinghe group was party senior and the party’s Kandy District Leader Lakshman Kiriella. In fact, Kiriella had no option as a majority of the UNP’s Kandy electoral committee decided to back the SJB at the upcoming general election. The UNP Electoral Organisers Committee in Kandy met last Thursday (5) under Kiriella’s patronage. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the UNP’s stance at the general election and invitations were extended to 218 UNP organisers including the party’s former parliamentarians, provincial councillors, and local government members. Out of the 218 UNPers, 198 members had attended the meeting. After convening the meeting, Kiriella asked the audience to express their willingness or unwillingness to contest under the Premadasa-led alliance. All members at the meeting have made a unanimous call to contest the general election under Premadasa’s alliance. Therefore, Kiriella said that he, together with the Kandy organisers, would support the SJB at the general election. Meanwhile, UNP National Organiser Navin Dissanayake’s brother, Mayantha Dissanayake had posed a question on what action the Kandy organisers should take in the event the UNP decided to contest separately under the “elephant” symbol. A majority of those gathered at the meeting had said that the Kandy organisers should still contest under the Premadasa-led SJB. Brickbats for MS Former President and Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Maithripala Sirisena had irked members of the SLFP as well as members of the Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) with recent comments made during an event in Polonnaruwa. Likening himself to an eagle, Sirisena noted that he too was a calculative animal like the eagle. Soon after the comments were made public, members of the SLPP started breathing fire at the SLFPers and called for their defeat at the upcoming general election. Minister Prasanna Ranatunga was one of the most vociferous critics, who claimed that Sirisena and his SLFPers should contest separately at the elections. He also called on the SLPP supporters to ensure the defeat of the candidates who are seen aligning themselves with Sirisena. Given the chaos created by Sirisena's words, a group of senior SLFPers decided to approach Sirisena and request him to step down from the election race and look at entering Parliament through the National List. During a meeting with Sirisena last week, the SLFPers had asked Sirisena not to contest at the general election as his presence on the election platform had irked the SLPP, resulting in all the SLFP candidates facing the threat of being defeated at the polls. After listening to the SLFPers, Sirisena had said comments made by him in Polonnaruwa were targeted at the people in Polonnaruwa and not elsewhere. He has also noted that he was not prepared to enter Parliament through the National List as he wanted to play an active role in politics. Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, addressing a meeting of media heads at the Presidential Secretariat last Thursday (5), said that he would get on stage and canvass for the SLFP-SLPP alliance – Sri Lanka Freedom People's Alliance (SLFPA) – at the upcoming general election. As for ensuring the entrance of intellectuals and professionals to the next Parliament, the President said that it was up to the people to ensure that they send "proper" individuals to Parliament. Rajapaksa added that since he was not involved in granting nominations to the candidates, it was solely up to the people to act wisely.