The Election Commission has published the extraordinary gazette notification containing the names of 19 Members of Parliament (MPs), who were selected for National List seats at the General Election 2020.

The document has listed 17 National List parliamentarians from Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and one each from Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) and Ahila Ilankai Thamil Congress (AITC).

Gazetted names of the National List MPs of the above mentioned political parties are as follows:

SLPP
Professor G.L. Pieris
Attorney-at-Law Sagara Kariyawasam
Former CBSL governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal
President’s Counsel Mohomed Ali Sabri
President’s Counsel Jayantha Weerasinghe
Retired Teaching Instructor Manjula Wijekoon Dissanayake
Senior Professor Ranjith Bandara
Professor Charitha Herath
Activist Gevindu Kumaratunga
Former MP Mohomed Musammil
Professor Tissa Vitharana
Engineer Yadamini Narodama Rupasinghe Gunawardhane
Dr. Surendra Ragawan
Entrepreneur Tiran Alles
Specialist Dr. Seetha Kumari Arambepola
Former MP Ketagoda Gamage Jayantha Perera
Entrepreneur Mohamed Faleel Marjan Azmi

ITAK
Thavaraja Kalai Arasan

AITC
Selvarasa Gajenthiran

However, the National List nominations of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), United National Party (UNP), Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB) and Our Power of People Party (OPPP) are yet to be gazetted.

Sajith Premadasa-led SJB, which became the main Opposition after obtaining over 2.77 million votes in the General Election 2020, secured 47 seats in the parliament at district level and 07 National List seats.

On Monday (10), the party members held discussions on the matter, however, they have failed to reach an agreement on their National List nominations.

In the meantime, The UNP, which failed to secure a single seat in the parliament at district level, and the JJB are yet to make nominations for the each National List seat they are entitled to in the parliament.

A problematic situation has arisen with regard to the single National List of the OPPP. General Secretary of the party Ven. Wedinigama Wimalatissa Thero submitting a letter to the Election Commission claiming that he has been nominated to enter parliament as the party’s National List MP.

However, a group including the Chairman of the ‘Our Power of People Party (OPPP)’ have notified the commission that the said letter is not valid while the central committee of the party yesterday decided to nominate party member Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero for the National List MP seat.

In this backdrop, the General Secretary of the party Ven. Wedinigama Wimalatissa Thero, who is responsible for officially informing the Election Commission that Ven. Gnanasara Thero has been chosen for the MP seat, has now disappeared, according to OPPP candidate Ven. Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara Thero.