I was against giving nominations to MR, says the President

I was of the view that nominations should not be given to the former President to contest under the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ticket at the forthcoming General Election, President Maithripala Sirisena said today (14).

The observation was made at a special press briefing held in Colombo.

“I totally disagreed with the party’s decision to grant nominations to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. However, he will be defeated at the election, as how he was defeated at the last presidential election,” the President said.

He also asserted he would like to remind those media organizations which cited him as a ‘traitor’ or ‘betrayer’ during past two weeks that what would happen if these remarks were made prior 8 January.

“They called me a ‘traitor’ and ‘betrayer’. We have that media freedom here, unlike before,” he pointed out.

He also went into say that there are many senior political figures in the UPFA to give the prime ministerial post, apart from the former President.

“I didn’t want to put Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe or his party in jeopardy. I don’t want to back a party that chases after an election win. I would like to have a Parliament that would go hand in hand with my policy decisions,” he added.