COLOMBO, July 29: Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister Wijeyedasa Rajapakshe on Monday said that he has resigned from his position to contest the presidential election on September 21.
Rajapakshe, 65, became the second member of the cabinet to declare himself a candidate after President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced his intention to contest the election last Friday.
“I have resigned from my ministry to contest the election. I will be doing so under a new front which will be announced soon,” he said.
“Upon myself and the President announcing our intentions to contest the elections, issues arose. The main issue was two people from the Cabinet of Ministers contesting for the presidency, even though we were contesting from two different parties. The President sought my opinion on this and I have decided to step down from my ministerial portfolios to contest for the Presidential Election,” he told the media.
Last week, Rajapakshe announced his candidacy for the presidential election.
At the time, speaking to the media, he said under his leadership, measures will be taken to resolve issues in several sectors, with a focus on development.
He further expressed confidence that the National Election Commission will act independently and as per the Constitution concerning the upcoming elections.
Rajapakshe is having the backing of former president Maithripala Sirisena who leads a faction of the Freedom Party which is deeply mired in a legal wrangle.
Sirisena was served with a court writ restraining his functioning as the leader of the SLFP.
Sirisena later anointed Rajapakshe, the leader of the SLFP, which was disputed in court by a rival SLFP faction led by another cabinet minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.
The rival group claims Rajapakshe remains a member of the SLPP and his purported SLFP membership is invalid.
Rajapakshe, however, claimed that 90 per cent of members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) support his candidacy.
President Wickremesinghe has announced his intention to contest as an independent.
Sri Lanka will hold the presidential poll on September 21, a contest which is likely to determine the future of economic reforms in the cash-strapped country.
This will be the first election to be held in Sri Lanka after it plunged into economic bankruptcy in 2022.
Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka’s former Army chief and the architect of the military offensive that led to the annihilation of the LTTE, on Thursday formally declared his candidacy for the election.
The main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa and Marxist JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake are also vying for the post. (PTI)
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