• Says more than 80 per cent of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) will be supporting Mr. Wickremesinghe

By Yohan perera
Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe is likely to contest the presidential election under a whole new symbol other than the elephant or flower bud, Senior Presidential Advisor and UNP senior Ashu Marasinghe said yesterday. 

 Professor Marasinghe told journalists that Mr. Wickremesinghe will represent a number of parties as a national candidate. 
“People such as Minister Prasanna Ranatunga had said many including himself have an issue with supporting Mr. Wickremesinghe if he contests the presidential election under the elephant symbol. Likewise, we in the UNP also have an issue with him contesting under the Pohottuwa. Therefore, Mr. Wickremesinghe is expected to contest under a new symbol,” he said. 
He said more than 80 per cent of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) will be supporting Mr. Wickremesinghe in the next Presidential election. “We welcome the proposal made by SJB MP Thalatha Athukorala that both SJB and UNP should come together. We expect others in the SJB to support Mr. Wickremesinghe even if SJB leader Sajith Premadasa decides against such a move,” he said. 
Also, he said it is not possible to hold both the presidential election and the general election on the same day according to the constitution. 
Further, he claimed that Sri Lanka’s economy had begun to recover, with foreign reserves having grown up to US $ 5 billion at the same time, the tourism sector has experienced unexpected gains during this year.