A wing of the ruling party supports President Wickremesinghe

Several members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna last night expressed their support for the current president, although in recent days the party had decided not to support Wickremesinghe and wanted to put forward another candidate. It is not yet clear how the faction revolving around former president Mahinda Rajapaksa will move forward.

Colombo () – Several members of parliament from Sri Lanka’s largest party, the Sri Lankan Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), last night expressed their support for current President Ranil Wickremesinghe as a candidate for the presidential elections scheduled for September and declared that they agreed with his economic objectives.

Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe said at least 60 MPs had declared their support and the main aim was to ensure Wickremesinghe’s victory in the election, adding that other SLPP members could soon join.

However, another wing of the party – which has a total of 89 members in parliament – does not share this decision and, according to some, the number of supporters of Wickremesinghe is not so high and could soon decrease.

The party’s politburo had earlier decided not to support Wickremesinghe and to field another candidate. But the pro-Wickremesinghe faction remains hopeful that Mahinda Rajapaksa, the SLPP’s top leader and former president, will change his mind.

Semasinghe said yesterday that the party’s decision to nominate a different candidate was a mistake and went against the majority opinion in the party. Some experts have said they intend to engage in dialogue with Rajapaksa and are optimistic about the talks, while other SLPP MPs have already begun to map out an election campaign strategy in favour of Wickremesinghe.

In recent weeks, Wickremesinghe had visited Mahinda Rajapaksa’s residence on Colombo’s Wijerama Road to seek his and the SLPP’s support. But the former president told Wickremesinghe that the decision was in the hands of the party.

It is not clear who the anti-Wickremesinghe faction will choose as its candidate. Sources say the news will be announced in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s close aide Johnston Fernando responded to Semasinghe’s claims, saying Wickremesinghe does not have such broad support in Parliament. “The majority of voters,” he said, “are with the party. Our party will win with the candidate who gets 15 million new votes. There is no doubt about that,” he told the media.

Over the past two years, President Wickremesinghe has overseen a fragile economic recovery, agreeing to a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund that has halted the collapse of the rupee, contained inflation and safeguarded foreign exchange reserves.

But further financial consequences could be just around the corner. Indeed, Sri Lanka still needs to raise tax revenues, manage loss-making state-owned enterprises and complete a $12.5 billion debt restructuring with bondholders.

Rising levels of poverty, corruption and political impasse are also causes for concern, analysts say, adding that the crisis may have eroded the SLPP’s previously strong vote base, making the outcome of its alliance with Wickremesinghe unpredictable.