• To attend his first rally in Kuliyapitiya

President and United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is to make his first appearance in the series of election rallies organised by the UNP, since he became the President of the country, in his capacity as the Party Leader and not as the UNP’s Presidential candidate, said the UNP Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Prasanna Shamal Senarath.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (29), Senarath said that the next rally of the series is scheduled to take place in Kuliyapitiya on 10 March, and that President Wickremesinghe has confirmed his participation as the Party Leader, marking his first appearance in a UNP political rally after assuming the country’s Presidency. Senarath also noted that the Party members expected Wickremesinghe’s presence in the Party’s political rally, even though the President had taken a decision not to participate in any political activism within the Party after being the President of a multi-party Government. Speaking further, he stated that this would not affect the President’s role as an ‘independent’ President but that his participation would take place within his capacity as the Party Leader. When queried as to whether the particular rally aimed at Wickremesinghe’s investiture as the UNP’s Presidential candidate, he said that there was no such motivation behind his participation. “The President will be the UNP candidate if he wishes to contest for the Presidency without any obstruction. This series of rallies is the UNP’s election campaign. The President attends the UNP campaign; otherwise, this is not his election campaign. We want to form a massive alliance where he could be the Presidential candidate,” he said.

Earlier this year, the UNP commenced having meetings at the electorate level to strengthen the primary levels of the UNP, following the enactment of a new constitution for the Party. Accordingly, a series of meetings, which started in Galle, continued in other districts such as Gampaha, Anuradhapura, and Matale, throughout last month (February).