Parliament elects UPFA Deputy Speaker

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 May 2004, 07:27 GMT]
The Sri Lanka's Parliament Tuesday unanimously elected Mr.Geethanjana Gunawardene of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) as Deputy Speaker and Mr. Murugan Sachchithanandan of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) Deputy Chairman of Committees at its second sitting of the first session held Tuesday morning.

The main opposition United National Party did not field its candidates for these posts.

The chief whip of the main opposition United National Front (UNF) Mr.Mahinda Samarasinghe later said that his party and the ruling UPFA came to an agreement in the election of Deputy Speaker and Deputy Chairman of Communities, parliamentary sources said.

For the post of Deputy Speaker, the Prime Minister Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse proposed the name of Mr.Geethanjana Gunawardene and the leader of the House and Minister Mr.Maithiripala Sirisena seconded it, sources said.

Mr.Muthu Sivalingam of the CWC proposed the name of the Mr. Murugan Sachchithanandan of the CWC for the post of Deputy Chairman of Committees. Minister Mr. Mangala Samaraweera seconded him.

Mr.Geethanjana Gunawardene is one of the four sons of the late Marxist leader Mr. Phillip Gunawardene who was the founder leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP). Ms Kusuma Gunawardene, wife of late Mr. Phillip Gunawardene was the first woman parliamentarian of the country

The other sons of late Mr. Phillip Gunawardene are also politicians of today. Mr.Dinesh Gunawardene is the current President of the MEP and a minister in the UPFA government. Mr.Prassana Gunawardene is currently the Mayor of Colombo Municipal Council and Mr. Indika Gunawardene was a minister in the then UNF government, sources said.