Sri Lanka’s ruling United National Party (UNP) has nominated its deputy leader and Sri Lanka’s housing minister, Sajith Premadasa to run in the presidential election on Nov.16 with the hopes of winning over Buddhist nationalists.
Reuters notes that Premada is vying for support from Sri Lanka’s Buddhist majority as will be his opponent Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He has openly shown support for hard-line Buddhist nationalists who have decried the need for an international investigation into human rights abuses.
Read more here: Sri Lanka's ruling party nominates deputy leader as presidential candidate
Premadasa is likely to gain support as he is the son of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa who was assassinated in 1993.
He is also likely to gain support from the rural for his pledge to eradicate poverty and improve housing in the country under a slogan of “shelter for all at 2025”.
His nomination follows internal strife within the UNP as the party also considered parliament speaker Karu Jayasuriya and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for the nomination.
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