UPFA nearing two thirds without any sweat?

With the newly elected United People’s Freedom Alliance government just falling short of the magical 150 seats to obtain a two thirds majority in Parliament, circumstances are favouring it by way of displeasure over the National List allocations. Yesterday, it was reported that Democratic People’s Front member and brother of Mano Ganeshan’s brother Prabha Ganeshan as saying that his party was splitting from the United National Front (UNF) led by the United National Party (UNP) and may support the government.

Meanwhile, Palani Digambaram of the National Workers’ Union (NWU) which contested under the UNF, stated this morning in Parliament that his party would have nothing to do with the UNF hereafter as the coalition had failed to provide it with an additional seat from the National List as agreed upon during the run-up to the general elections.

During his maiden address during the inaugural session of the seventh Parliament, Mr. Digambaram, elected from the Nuwara Eliya district, said that his party was splitting from the UNF and would support any moves by the government towards the betterment of the country.

So, as it stands now, the UPFA could bank on two more seats taking the total to 146, short of only another four.

Meanwhile, though Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP) leader Wimal Weerawansa showed displeasure over the non-inclusion of an additional slot for his party from the UPFA National List, there seems to be no impending danger of his leaving the government, sources close to the party said.

UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha has stated that there were no ulterior motives or unfairness in choosing the persons who were accommodated in the party’s National List. Every party which was a member of the Alliance has been offered one slot each and it was only fair that the JNP too had received such a slot, he had stated.