{"id":133334,"date":"2014-11-21T16:13:42","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T10:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=133334"},"modified":"2014-11-28T03:00:04","modified_gmt":"2014-11-27T21:30:04","slug":"maithripala-common-candidate-ranil-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/maithripala-common-candidate-ranil-prime-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Maithripala Common Candidate &#8211; Ranil Prime Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SLFP stalwart and UPFA Government Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/maithripala-common-candidate-ranil-prime-minister\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Maithripala Sirisena<\/span><\/a> announced a short while ago that he will be the much anticipated common candidate at the upcoming Presdiential polls who would be backed by the common opposition.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Maitre.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-133328\" alt=\"Maitre\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Maitre.jpg\" width=\"403\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Maitre.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Maitre-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Maitre-800x600.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 403px) 100vw, 403px\" \/><\/a>Speaking at a media breifing a short while ago, Sirisena thanked the UNP and the other opposition parties for backing his candidacy and vowed to win the upcoming Presdiential polls while stating it is a vital move in order to save the country from being steered towards a dictatorship.<\/p>\n<p>He said following his victory he is planning to appoint Opposition Leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Ranil+Wickremesinghe&amp;x=8&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/span><\/a> as the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n<p>He pledged to abolish the executive presidential system within 100 days of his election and to restore complete media freedom in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Fisheries Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Rajitha+Senaratne&amp;x=11&amp;y=2\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Rajitha Senaratne<\/span><\/a> too is currently speaking at the media briefing held to announce Maithripala Sirisena as the common candidate and he added that more Ministers and MPs of the government are to join the common opposition movement.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aaAVpkGLitU?rel=0;showinfo\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H2CTGdu3v5o?rel=0;showinfo\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":133343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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