Namal Rajapaksa joins SLPP, starting potential SLFP exodus

by Abi
Nov 11, 2018

Namal Rajapaksa takes up membership of the SLPP before his father Mahinda.

Namal Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan parliamentarian and son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, has joined the Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP) leading a potential exodus from Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

“I am joining the [SLPP] effective immediately,” Namal tweeted on Saturday. “We will strive to create a broader coalition with many stakeholders under the leadership of [Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa] to face the upcoming General Election and come out victorious.”

Responding to President Sirisena’s dissolution of parliament and announcement of snap elections to be held on January 5, two other SLFP parliamentarians declared that they had switched allegiance to the SLPP.

Several other SLFP MPs remained coy and ambiguous when questioned about which banner they would run under in the upcoming election.

The dissolution of parliament and snap election however are due to face several legal challenges in the Supreme Court.

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