Pressure arose from the proposed war crimes probe by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) against Sri Lanka was among the reasons why the former President had to call a snap election, a top government Minister said Wednesday.

Minister S.B. Dissanayake while speaking to reporters at a press conference held in Colombo further pointed out Sri Lanka would had been labeled as a country that committed war crimes if the election was delayed.

“The government of Mahinda Rajapaksa and he himself were aware that a list containing the names of 46 persons including four politicians were mentioned in the war crimes report,” said Dissanayake.

He also went on to say a suggestion to appoint then Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena as the chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and name Chamal Rajapaksa as the party’s prime ministerial candidate was also dismissed during that time.

Dissanayake said that to safeguard the people and the country, a decision was made to back the United National Party (UNP) which emerged as the most sensible move at that time.

With the present political situation, both major parties are not in a position to form a government of their own, he also said.