COLOMBO: Namal Rajapaksa, the 38-year-old successor to the Rajapaksa kingdom, was on Wednesday named as the SLPP member for the national election, therefore officially ending Rajapaksa mother’s support to the former Ranil Wickremesinghe. Sagara Kariyawasam, the general secretary of the Sri Lanka People’s Front ( SLPP, also known locally by its popular Sinhalese name, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna ), announced the younger Rajapaksa’s candidacy early on Wednesday morning at a ceremony at the party headquarters.
Namal’s access has made the vote a four-cornered challenge. Additionally, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the Communist JVP head Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and the major opposition leader Sajith Premadasa are now involved.
Mahinda, Basil, and Gotabaya, the Rajapaksas, played a key role in Wickremesinghe’s victory in the legislative election in July 2022 to retake Gotabaya’s remaining name.
The island country declared its first-ever sovereign proxy since gaining independence from Britain in 1948, and unrest broke out as locals complained about prices and other financial strain that had caused Gotabaya’s resignation shortly after its extraordinary growth in mid-April 2022.
Following his announcement as an independent, the SLPP lost almost 100 of its MPs to Wickremesinghe on Wednesday.
Those MPs have condemned their group’s decision to ditch Wickremesinghe but the SLPP, in turn, has vowed disciplinary action against those who up Wickremesinghe, defying the party choice.
Namal was the party’s final choice. The endorsed candidate, business billionaire Dhammika Perera, on Tuesday told the group he was unable to challenge due to personal factors, sources said.
