• National List slot vacant
• Working Committee undecided

By Our Political Editor

The United National Party (UNP) has decided to seek more time to finalise the party’s nominee for the National List secured at the recently concluded general election. Therefore, the UNP will not be represented in Parliament at its inaugural session on Thursday (20), The Sunday Morning learnt. The decision to seek more time to finalise UNP’s sole representation in the ninth Parliament was reached at the party’s Working Committee (WC) meeting on Friday (14). A senior UNP source confirmed to The Sunday Morning that the party would not be represented in the House that day. “It is confirmed. There will not be any UNP representation in the House on 20 August,” the source said. When asked whether it is legally possible to not name the National List nominee by the time of the inaugural session, the senior UNPer explained that this is not unprecedented. Meanwhile, the UNP WC also decided that Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe should continue in his post until a final decision is reached on his successor. The deadline for political parties to propose their National List nominees ended on Friday (14). Election Commission (EC) Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya was not contactable for comment at the time of going to print.