Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Dayasiri Jayasekera has called on opposition parties to urgently unite under a common alliance to contest the forthcoming Provincial Council elections, warning that failure to do so would hand advantage to the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) government.
He stressed that meaningful unity must go beyond declarations and manifest as consensus, especially on chief ministerial candidates in key provinces.
Noting that the NPP is deliberately stalling the electoral process due to waning popularity, he pointed to a noticeable drop in its vote base during recent local government elections despite its gains in last year’s parliamentary poll, where it polled 6.8 million votes.
Jayasekera said that the SJB and the UNP paid “a very heavy price” by failing to align during the 2024 presidential, parliamentary, and local polls.
In the presidential race, NPP candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured over 5.6 million votes but fell short of an outright majority. Meanwhile, the combined vote of SJB’s Sajith Premadasa and Independent candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe exceeded 6.5 million.
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