Ranil PMcandidate if general election precedes presidential polls
Crossover provision to be abolished as solution to ‘jumbo Cabinets’
Leader of the UNF Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday that General Sarath Fonseka’s nomination as Presidential candidate was subject to his acceptance of the UNF’s ten-point policy statement.
Wickremesinghe said that a decision on the Presidential candidate would be taken only after an election was announced and he was confident that Fonseka had a clear understanding of the UNF policies.
“There is no reason to assume that General Fonseka is not a democrat,” he said.
Among the conditions put forward for Fonseka’s candidature are that he must abolish the executive presidency or substantially reduces its powers in the event of being elected President, provide the TNA and JVP important portfolios in his Cabinet, ensure the speedy resettlement of northern IDPs, establish all the independent commissions required to ensure good governance and appoint Wickremesinghe as the caretaker Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, the UNF said that in the event of a Parliamentary Polls preceding a Presidential Election, Wickremesinghe would be its Prime Ministerial nominee.
Asked about the contentious crossover provision, which had led to the number of ministers in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government zooming to 108, Wickremesinghe said that a future UNF administration would scrap that clause in the Constitution.
“We have to sit down and discuss the details, but are agreed in principle that the crossover provision has to be abolished totally,” he replied when questioned if the UNF would ensure that the liberty of crossing over would be denied to both Government and Opposition parliamentarians alike.
source: www.island.lk
by Zacki Jabbar