16 July 2022 12:33 pm Views - 5411
National People's Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake will contest for presidency as the candidate of the National People's Power, NPP MP Vijitha Herath said today.
He told a news conference that they, as NPP, discussed with all the parties to come to a consensus to appoint the Speaker as the interim President and then form an all-party government until an election was held.
He said however, they could not come to a consensus on the matter and added that Ranil Wickremesinghe,Sajith Premadasa and Dullas Alahapperuma have announced that they would contest for presidency.
"In this scenario, forming an all-party government is practically impossible due to the competition for presidency. However, we have not completely given up our effort.We are still mediating to come to a consensus," he said.
MP Herath said those inside and outside Parliament,all the people including civil activists in the country and Sri Lankans overseas were calling for a clear and stable political leadership to resolve the serious economic and political crisis faced by the country.
"We are ready to take up that challenge in Parliament and present the leadership expected and proposed by the people.We need the support of the MPs in Parliament to achieve that.People are demanding us to take up the challenge and resolve this grave economic crisis. We will feild NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake for the vote for presidency in Parliament to take up the political leadership to resolve the crisis situation" he said.
He said after they took up the presidency, they will form an all-party government with the support of all other parties so as to implement the program proposed by the civil society and the people.
"We request the support of all MPs in parliament at the vote to elect the president. We are ready to implement a common program with common agreement to find solutions for the economic crisis," he said. (Ajith Siriwardana)