UNP for General Election

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 August 2001, 14:24 GMT]
"Following the failure of talks between PA and UNP, now it seems the only way to get out from the present political crisis is to hold a general election to elect a new parliament," said Sri Lanka's opposition leader Mr.Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing a gathering of business magnates, politicians and academics at Hotel Taj Samudra in Colombo, Wednesday night.

He said "the PA's insistence on the creation of a non-executive Vice Presidency post to accommodate the incumbent Prime Minister came as a stumbling block for the progress of the talks between the two main parties."

"All democratic norms have been destroyed by the PA government except the LTTE. The LTTE movement has grown up strong during the period of the PA government," Mr.Wickremasinghe said.

Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party Mr.Batty Weerakoon said Thursday that the country needed a "national consensus between all political parties to resolve the present crisis and not a national government of the two main political parties."