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Key partner in Sri Lankan president's camp resigns

Xinhua, July 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

A key political partner in an alliance led by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena announced on Sunday that it had resigned from the alliance and will contest the upcoming parliamentary elections separately.

The National Heritage Party, also known as the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), announced that it had quit from the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by Sirisena and that it had formed a new coalition.

JHU General Secretary Champika Ranawaka said his party played a key role to help Sirisena win the January 8 presidential elections.

He said the JHU had consistently pushed for the powers of the president to be reduced and this was achieved following the January election through the 19th Amendment to the constitution submitted to the parliament by Sirisena which was eventually made law.

During the presidential election campaign, Sirisena and the political parties which supported him had pushed for good governance.

Ranawaka said that now the JHU had decided to withdraw from the UPFA and form a coalition with the aim of taking forward good governance.

He said the JHU does not feel the two main political parties, the UPFA and the United National Party, can take good governance forward. Endi