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Sri Lanka convenes new parliament after UNP wins parliamentary poll

Xinhua, September 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Sri Lanka's new parliament convened for the first time on Tuesday after the ruling United National Party (UNP) won a parliamentary election last month.

Senior UNP member, Karu Jayasuiya was elected as the speaker of parliament after his name was proposed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and seconded by the opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) member Nimal Siripala de Silva.

The newly-elected 225 members of parliament later took oaths before the new speaker and convened parliamentary sessions.

The UNP, led by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe defeated the main opposition United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) by winning 106 seats in the parliamentary elections held on Aug. 17. The UPFA whose prime ministerial candidate was former President Mahinda Rajapakse won 95 seats while the main Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won 16 seats.

The SLFP, who is the biggest partner in the UPFA coalition, has decided to work together with the UNP in the new parliament after both parties signed an MoU last month to form a united government. The SLFP and UPFA are led by President Maithripala Sirisena.

Despite the united government concept, a new cabinet is yet to be sworn in after conflicts have arisen over ministerial portfolios with both the SLFP and UNP demanding powerful ministerial posts. It had been proposed that the UNP will maintain 30 portfolios and the SLFP 15.

However a group of UPFA members, including Rajapakse, have opposed the united government policy and will sit in the opposition in parliament. Endi