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Kiriella says Ranil expected to contest polls
20 Apr, 2019
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to contest the upcoming Presidential elections, Leader of the House and Minister of Public Enterprise, Kandyan Heritage and Kandy Development Lakshman Kiriella said.
The Minister said this in response to a question raised by a journalist during the ?Haritha Udarata BakmahaUlela 2019? event held at the Gatambe Grounds in Kandy, Kiriella’s media unit said.
“UNP does not belong to a single family. The candidate for the opposing side is decided by the family – the former President, his wife, the three brothers and the son. This is family bandism. The UNP is different as it is a people?s party. We select a candidate by convening the Working Committee and parliamentarians. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is the incumbent leader of our party. Therefore, we expect that he will contest the upcoming Presidential election. The candidate from the ?Pohottuwa? party is facing international lawsuits. We are embarrassed to mention this. If someone from our government committed such an offence, we will not allow them to remain whatsoever,” Kiriella was quoted as saying by his media unit.
There has been speculation that either Speaker Karu Jayasuriya or Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa will be the Presidential candidate of the UNP.
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