PC polls

UPFA for broader alliance

Rasika Somarathna

The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is set to form a broader alliance to contest the upcoming Provincial Council elections for the Central and North Western Provinces with several parties voicing interest in joining ranks to form such a front, UPFA General Secretary Minister Susil Premajayantha said.

In addition to the traditional constituent parties of the UPFA other political forces such as the United National Party’s Democratic group (UNP-D), the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC), the Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) and the National Freedom Front (NFF) are holding discussions with the UPFA to form a broader alliance, the Minister added.

According to Minister Premajayantha they are prepared to take other parties with similar ideologies into the fold to forge a broader front at the polls.

A decision on the final formation would be taken today in consultation with other stakeholders, the Minister added.

The CWC which has much clout in the Central Province has already voiced its desire to contest under the UPFA banner. The UNP(D) also recently said they would contest all future elections under the UPFA.

UPF sources also said they are most likely to join the UPFA.

An NFF member told the Daily News that they had not yet taken a decision whether to contest under the UPFA banner or to go it alone. However, the NFF said they would definitely contest the upcoming PC polls.

Meanwhile, the SLMC said yesterday that they were seeking the opinion of grassroot level organisations before arriving at a final decision.

SLMC General Secretary Hassen Ali said their door was still open to form an alliance with either the UPFA or the UNP, depending on the outcome of discussions on at grassroot level.

The other main contender, the United National Party is also on the election trail and has already announced S.B.Dissanayake as its Chief Minister aspirant, for Central Province.

UNP sources said they were discussing with several parties to form a broader front to contest the PC polls.

Meanwhile, PAFFREL said they would begin election monitoring once the nominations are received.

PAFFREL said they would cover election related activities in all 40 polling divisions in the five districts at the polls.

Meanwhile, Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake is set to announce the date of the poll immediately after the closure of nominations which is slated to take place from December 24-31.

However according to analysts, the election to appoint 58 members to the Central and 52 for the North Western Provincial Council is most likely to be held at the end of February.