Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday said he will continue to be the prime minister in the national unity government, notwithstanding the pressure to give up the party leadership following the electoral setback in local council polls.
Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) plunged into a crisis after former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s new party – Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) – defeated President Maithripala Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the UNP, won two-thirds of the 340 local council polls on Saturday.
The SLPP won 225 councils of the 340 councils which went to the polls.
In his first appearance following the political logjam, Wickremesinghe told reporters, “As far as I am concerned I will carry on as Prime Minister”.
His reaction came following a faction of the unity government made efforts to replace Wickremesinghe with Nimal Siripala de Silva.
The move was alleged to have been backed by Rajapaksa faction and Kumar Welgama, a Rajapaksa backer, said Sirisena had told them that Attorney General would be consulted to seek ways to remove Wickremesinghe.
This was also the culmination of a soured relationship between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe after the latter had helped the former defeat Rajapaksa in the 2015 presidential election.
Wickremesinghe is said to be banking on the provisions of the 19th amendment to the Constitution which he and Sirisena jointly adopted.
It bars Sirisena from removing the prime minister unless he resigned or defeated in a motion of no confidence.
Referring to opposition mounting from his own party over his leadership style Wickremesinghe said party reforms would be launched for a succession.