Nominations for office of President accepted today

Parliament is meeting at 10.00 a.m. today (July 19) to accept nominations for the office of President which remains vacant following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week.

The Secretary-General of Parliament is calling nominations for the vote in the House to elect a new President, pursuant to the provisions of the Presidential Elections (Special Provisions) Act, No. 02 of 1981. SLPP MP Dullas Alahapperuma, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake are among the other three contestants.

Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is the oldest of them, embarked on active politics in mid-1970s representing the United National Party (UNP). The leader of main opposition Sajith Premadasa, who first represented the parliament in 2000, was appointed the deputy Minister of Health the following year.

The 55-year-old was a presidential candidate in the 2019 election, opposite former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and was polled second. Meanwhile, SLPP MP Alahapperuma, who was first elected to the parliament in 1994, served as a minister in the administration of former President Rajapaksa.

Meanwhile, the leader of National People’s Power (NPP) MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who has been representing the parliament since 2000, has also entered the presidential race.