Thousands gather in Colombo as UNP stands its ground

Thousands gathered in Colombo today at a mass rally organised by the United National Party (UNP) to demand that Parliament be convened immediately and democracy be protected. United National Front (UNF) party leaders and UNP Parliamentarians attended the rally.The UNF and UNP demanded that Parliament be convened so that the issue over who has the majority support in Parliament can be resolved. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said that President Maithripala Sirisena assumed he will get his way when he removed him as Prime Minister.

Sirisena appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new Prime Minister and prorogued Parliament till November 16th. However Wickremesinghe said that the UNP and its partners in the United National Front will not give up and will continue to push for Parliament to convene immediately. Wickremesinghe said that the UNP supported Maithripala Sirisena in 2015 to be elected as President. He said that the unity Government was given a mandate in 2015 and that included establishing democracy. Wickremesinghe said that they did not expect President Maithripala Sirisena to go against the mandate given to him. He said the President is attempting to hold on to his executive powers but the UNP will oppose it. UNP Parliamentarian Ajith. P. Perera said that the President will be given time till Friday to convene Parliament.

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