Speaker to write to UNP asking to nominate Opp. Leader

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya will write to the United National Party (UNP) today, asking it to officially inform him about who would be appointed as Opposition Leader.

A spokesman for the Speaker told Times Online that Mr. Jayasuriya had decided to take this course of action, after he had received two letters -- one from the UNP general secretary, urging the Speaker to appoint UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Opposition Leader, and another in the form of a petition by more than 40 UNP MPs, who want defeated presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa be appointed as the Opposition Leader.

However, the Speaker on his Twitter handle today said the leader of the UNP-led United National Front for Good Governance alliance, which forms a majority in the Opposition, would be recognised as Opposition Leader in keeping with parliamentary traditions.

Recognition of the Leader of the UNFGG as the Leader of the Opposition was done upholding established Parliamentary traditions that should not be violated. While I empathize with the challengers too, it is best that a party’s internal disputes are settled from within.

— Karu Jayasuriya (@KaruOnline) November 27, 2019

According to parliamentary traditions, the post of Opposition Leader is given to the leader of an opposition political party comprising a majority of opposition members, Speaker Jayasuriya told a parliamentary meeting recently.

The post of Opposition Leader fell vacant after Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as Prime Minister following his brother Gotabaya's election as President.