Four new parliamentarians to be sworn in Tuesday

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 May 2004, 17:05 GMT]
Four new parliamentarians are to be sworn in by the Speaker when Sri Lanka's parliament meets Tuesday morning. One of the four is the Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian, Mr.Pakkiaselvam Ariyanenthiran, of Batticaloa district. The other three are from the National List of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), sources said.

The Commissioner of Elections, Mr.Dayananda Dissanayake, by a gazette notification has appointed Mr. Ariyanenthiran to the fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Mr. Kingsely Rasanayakam from Batticaloa electoral district. Mr. Rasanayakam was elected to parliament in the April 2nd general election polling the fourth highest preferential votes. Mr. Ariyanenthiran came fifth. According to the votes polled in the district, the Tamil National Alliance (ITAK) had qualified for four seats, sources said.

The other three parliamentarians to be sworn in on Tuesday are from the ruling United National Freedom Alliance (UPFA). They are, Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, a former Prime Minister, Mr. Mervyn Perera and Mr. Wijethasa Rajapakse filling the vacancies created by the resignations of Mr. Janadasa Peiris, Ms. Mary Lucida and Mr. Weerasekara from the National list of UPFA. Mr. Janadasa Peiris was later appointed as the Chairman of the State controlled Lake House group of newspapers.